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OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

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BETELGUESE 

A     TRIP    THROUGH    HELL 


By  JEAN   LOUIS   De   ESQUE 
Author  of"  The  Flight  of  a  Soul",  etc. 


JERSEY   CITY 

CONNOISSEUR'S  PRESS 

1908 


Copyright,  1907  and  1908,  by 

Tean  Louis  de  Esque 

Entered  at  Stationers1  Hall,  London,  E.  C. 
All  Rights  Reserved 


^^  A 

.  P3S73/- 


TO 

Those  that  felt  the  wand  of  Muse — 
Queen  Posy's  shaft  of  subtle  art — 
Soared  to  the  distant  heights  of  blue, 
Past  onyx  lees  that  Sunsets  dyed, 
And  put  to  Vellum  Couplets'  fuse, 
Sped  same  to  Fate  with  timid  heart, 
Then  shed  dim  tears  in  Sorrow's  pew, 
This  work's  respectfully  inscribed. 


626077 


PREFACE 


To  the  readers  of  this  poem  an  apology  is  needed  for 
affixing  thereto  a  praem.  Some  friends  of  mine  have 
been  plaguing  me  beyond  the  restrictive  line  of  Patience 
for  the  true  cause  of  conceiving  the  accompanying  col 
lection  of  words,  balderdash  or  what  you  will,  some  even 
asseverating  with  the  eruditeness  of  an  Aristole  that  it 
was  a  nebulous  idea,  an  embryonic  form  of  thought  hi 
bernating  within  the  cavities  of  my  sinciput's  inner 
apex,  the  remnants  of  that  wild  phantasmagoric  dream  of 
"vicious,  vulpine  labyrinths  of  hell,"  partly  expounded 
in  my  "The  Flight  of  a  Soul." 

Now  to  satisfy  everybody  but  my  friends  I  throw  my 
prejudices  to  the  winds  and  confess,  to  wit:  That  I, 
with  the  buckler  of  Will,  wooed  Oblivion  on  September 
the  sixth  at  exactly  5  P.M.,  having  been  up  at  my  desk 
mauling  and  drubbing  the  English  language  with  a  ven 
geance  for  thirty-six  consecutive  hours,  and  that  I  awoke 
at  12.30  A.M.  that  selfsame  night  with  the  entire  con 
tents  of  the  accompanying ?  (have  as  yet  not  de 
cided  in  what  category  the  critics  will  consign  this  weird 


6  PREFACE 

hypotyposis  of  the  Supernal)  jingling  through  my  tired 
brain.  I  set  to  work  at  exactly  12.45  A.M.  and  wrote 
until  our  esteemed  companions  of  the  nocturnal  hours 
ceased  their  unloved  music  (mosquitos),  5.05  A.M.,  hied 
myself  back  to  bed  and  hypothecated  as  many  winks  as 
Dame  Slumber  saw  fit  to  allot  to  me,  who  am  at  con 
tinued  war  with  her  silent  wand.  The  same  tactics 
were  employed  during  the  succeeding  fifteen  nights, 
wherein  I  penned  eight  thousand  one  hundred  and  six 
teen  (8116)  lines.  This  is  the  truth,  the  whole  and  in 
tegral  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  unexpurgated  truth, 
so  help  me  Muse  (she's  blind  as  a  bat)  and  Satan,  of 
whom  I've  writ  in  such  an  unbecoming  manner  that, 
henceforth,  I  must  perforce  seek  my  future  Elysian  in 
other  haunts  than  those  of  the  above  named  Cosmopo- 
ietic  's  own,  for  fear  that  his  uncoped  wrath  may  blast  me 
into  an  ape-faced  minstrel  or,  like  one  red-haired  varlet 
draped  with  the  cognomen  of  "Nero,"  use  my  un 
bleached  bones  for  illuminating  the  highway  to  his  in- 
sidiate  lair. 

To  the  readers  this  question  may  present  itself,  to  wit : 
Why  place  Hell  in  the  bowels  of  Betelguese?  Why  not 
the  sun  or  moon? 

In  the  first  instance  the  former  sphere  is  eliminated 
as  a  possibility  on  account  of  its  nature.  Being  a  huge 
nucleous  mass  of  aeriform  fluid,  nothing  containing 


PREFACE  7 

animal  or  vegetable  life  could  possibly  exist  either  on 
or  within  its  bowels.  The  moon,  too,  is  excluded  for 
the  same  reason  as  is  our  earth,  it  having  at  one  time 
been  a  part  of  the  latter,  broken  off  by  one  of  the  giant 
planets  long  before  the  pleioncene  era.  Betelguese  being 
a  celestial  pariah,  an  outcast,  the  largest  of  all  known 
comets  or  outlawed  suns  in  the  universe;  and,  further, 
so  long  as  Hell  has  not  been  definitely  placed,  why  not 
figure  this  hybrid  planet  as  a  possibility? 

Astronomers  throughout  the  world  remember  the 
colossal  outburst  in  the  constellation  Perseus  that  oc 
curred  on  February  20,  1901,  when  one  sun  exploded, 
or  two  made  collision  with  appalling  force.  It  was  ob 
served  through  telescopes  and  could  be  seen  with  the 
naked  eye  in  full  daylight.  Both  suns  were  destroyed 
as  suns — that  is,  they  were  turned  into  thin  gas  and 
vanished  from  sight  of  the  largest  telescope  within  less 
than  a  year. 

Had  each  sun  been  the  centre  of  a  system  of  eight 
worlds  like  our  sun ;  and  imagine  each  world,  sixteen  in 
all,  to  be  inhabited  with  human  beings;  then  they  all 
perished  in  a  short  time  after  collision  and  died  of  what 
the  astronomers  call  " fervent  heat." 

Vega,  far  more  larger  than  our  sun,  appears  station 
ary.  Our  sun,  with  its  family  of  moons  and  comets,  is 
moving  toward  it  at  the  fearful  pace  of  fourteen  miles 


8  PREFACE 

per  second.  At  its  present  rate  of  speed — and  if  Vega 
is  really  a  "fixed"  planet — then  our  sun  would  reach 
it  in  320,000  years.  However,  it  is  a  known  certainty 
that  the  quantity  of  matter  that  is  invisible  is  so  much 
greater  than  the  visible  that  the  visible  may  be  ignored. 
There  may,  too,  be  hundreds  of  millions  of  dark  bodies,, 
extinct  constellations  far  larger  than  our  own  sun.  Any 
one  of  these  could  approach  our  solar  system  and  anni 
hilate  it  with  its  impact  for,  in  passing  the  orbit  of  the 
earth  on  their  way  around  the  sun,  they  attain  a  regular 
velocity  of  26£  miles  per  second.  If  one  of  these  dark 
comets  should  overtake  the  earth  and  strike  it,  the 
velocity  of  impact  would  be  about  eight  miles  per  sec 
ond;  but  if  it  should  meet  the  earth  in  a  head-on  colli 
sion,  the  speed,  when  it  struck,  would  be  forty-five  miles 
per  second,  a  momentum  beyond  the  power  of  the  brain 
to  fathom — indeed,  man  can  not  think  of  sixty  miles 
per  minute.  Let  a  solid  nucleous  collide  with  the  earth 
and  imagination  would  reel  at  the  result. 

The  earth  moves  over  18|  miles  every  second,  and  this 
added  to  or  subtracted  from  26£  makes  45  or  8.  If  a 
comet  should  strike  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  of 
the  earth's  motion  the  speed  of  collision  would  be  26| 
miles.  But  8,  26£  or  even  15  would  hurl  destruction  if 
large  enough. 

A  visible  change  is  taking  place  in  the  giant  sun  Betel- 


PREFACE  9 

guese.  Its  nebulae  is  slowly  but  surely  disappearing. 
One  hundred  years  hence  it  may  be  a  dark  planet,  in 
visible  to  even  the  most  powerful  telescope.  However, 
Hell  will  reign  on,  through  eons  and  eons;  and,  if  this 
sun,  or  any  other,  contains  its  kingdom,  and  mankind 
lives  for  another  thousand  years  or  more,  those  who 
should  be  so  unfortunate  as  to  miss  the  jagged  heights  to 
Paradise  need  not  worry,  for  glozing  imps  will  lead  them 
to  the  f asthold  of  Typhon  's  weird  home.  Have  no  fear. 

September  22d,  MCMVII. 


Copyright,  1906,  iy 
COHNQI3S£U*'S  PfifSS. 


WHEN   I  AM   GONE 


YVT  HAT  good  is  Fame  when  I  am  dead  and  gone, 

When  in  immarcescible  regions 
My  temple  rots  and  soul  doth  storm  and  mourn 
As  bones  of  mine  adorn  an  early  grave  ? 
Who'll  hear  and  know  that  I  worked  hard  and  long, 
That  twin  sighs  and  tears  storm 'd  me  by  legions, 
My  life,  a  sunless  one — bleak  and  forlorn. 
No  ray  of  light  whilst  I  in  thralldom  slave  ? 

What  good  is  Fame  when  I  am  dead  and  gone, 
When  in  fenowed  abyss',  stark  and  cold, 
I  wend  my  solemn  footsteps  and  atone, 
Whilst  Fame  my  brow  doth  crown  with  its  renown? 
Who  '11  know  that  heart  and  soul  bled  on  and  on, 
That  storm-swept  aches  and  woes  were  mine  untold, 
My  life  a  waste,  from  which  there  stole  a  moan, 
No  Aureole  whilst  I  in  sorrow  drown? 

What  good  is  Fame  when  I  am  dead  and  gone, 
When  far  and  wide  my  praise  is  heard  and  sung, 


12  WHEN  I  AM  GONE 

And  busts  and  marble-heads  my  deeds  unfurl 
To  multitudes  that  knew  me  not  in  flesh? 
Not  when  I'm  gone  care  I  for  Renown's  dawn, 
Now,  whilst  I  labour  at  Fame's  lowest  rung, 
Let  me  reap  dame  Approval's  brightest  pearl 
And  sip  its  olpe  as  I  my  battles  thresh. 


BETELGUESE 


ARESSED  by  crystal  dews  and  light 
Beyond  the  realm  of  scale  and  fin, 
Incarian  Thought  flits  Fancy  wings 
To  hazards  where  a  crimson  urn 
Makes  scarlet  this  eternal  height 
Of  sunless  suns  and  reigning  sin, — 
Flame-decked  this  plain  of  warring  kings 
Where  poisoned  fumes  and  beacons  burn ! 
And  thro'  the  hyoids,  huge  and  red, 
Past  portals  black  and  guidons  bright 
To  onyx  lees  and  opal  sands, 
The  Cyclopean  vaults  of  dwale, 
And  cavern'd  shapes  that  Typhon  bled, 
Greet  each  wand'ring  spectre's  sight ; 
Where  pixies  dance  on  wind-blown  strands, 
Lurke  gyte  incubi  in  a  hall. 
Here,  then,  reigns  gyving,  batter'd  Doom ! 
Where  shadows  vague  and  coffined  light, 


16  BETELGUESE 

Spit  broths  from  splinter'd  wracks  and  domes. 
Where  viscid  mists  and  vulpine  cries 
Rise  from  the  moat  of  dungeoned  gloom 
And  rasp  the  stationed  walls  of  night 
Until  sequestered  skulls  and  bones 
Are  made  to  hear  the  moaning  sighs 
That  some  mad  Titan,  rayed  in  gold, 
Wrests  from  Damnation's  siffling  tomb. 
And  labyrinths  of  Horror's  Home, 
'Mid  vapours  green  and  aisles  unsunned, 
Provoke  each  cursing  mattoid's  fold 
Until  the  night  is  changed  to  noon 
By  cowled  magicians  on  a  dome. 
Then  wizardry,  strange,  unsummed, 
Reveals  each  varlet,  Figgum's  might : 
A  hemless  rabble  from  the  South 
That  some  wild  Trojan  flayed  and  curs'd, 
Skirr  thro'  the  Cauldron  s  broken  lane 
And  wing  for  implex  strands  and  light. 
There,  where  tapers  flare  on  Hell's  mouth 
This  clan  damns  each  giant  Soldan  first. 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  17 

And  Medeas  in  this  vast  plain, 
Who  blink  at   yon  dysodile  lamps, 
Slap  thenars  and  each  bifurcous 
As  javels  drink  from  scyphus'  bright. 
Blood-curdling  monsters  on  a  rope 
That  sate  upon  the  damn'd  one's  camps 
As  hell-winds  gleam  most  glorious — 
Each  Vandal's  music  day  or  night  ! 
Vain  !  vain !  Each  isle  of  hidden  Hope  ! 
Alas !  Alas !  Each  olpe  of  Remorse  ! 
Each  vaulted  soul  and  spiral  thought, 
Swirl  in  the  throes  of  waters  cold  ; 
Where  rivers  with  the  venom  crawls, 
Croak  bat-faced  incubi  till  hoarse. 
And  succubi  that  Hecate  taught, 
Bedecked  in  byss  and  spangled  gold, 
Sing  runes  unto  the  dungeoned  halls. 
Then  burning  ghauts  and  crimsoned  peaks, 
Vomit  each,  green,  abhorrent  clouds  ; 
The  Temple's  drum  sounds  tomb  and  death 
To  those  that  came  for  unsung  trust. 


18  BETELGUESE 

And  pyres  that  smouldered  for  three  weeks. 

Spit  wenches'  blood  thro'  addling  crowds 

And  filch  each  leering  vyper's  breath, — 

Vile  japes  that  dam  all  struck  with  dust ! 

Erelong  unholy  fugitives  roam 

'Mid  imbosk  caves  and  moaning  dales 

To  piercing  screes  of  purple  gloom, 

Where  gurgling  sighs  and   rasping  moans,— 

Each  bloody  vampyre's  home  cf  loam  { 

As  life-tides  drip  to  scarlet  vales, — 

Unshadowed  haunts  of  darkling  Doom  ! 

Add  terror  to  the  rasping  groans 

That  roaring  surfs  of  rubic  blood 

Fling  to  each  afrite's  acrid  crypt. 

And  mildewed  skulls  and  ashen  boner 

That  lie  before  each  pillared  mount, 

Speak  tidings  of  a  leprous  flood. 

And  where  giants  carcants  flare  and  sit, 

The  battle-crests  and  surging  foams 

That  toss  each  swoll'n  Cauldron's  Count 

As  pyramidal  realms  unsunned 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  19 

Glare  at  the  stricken,  tamper'd  souls, 
Stark  wenches  seek  blind  seers  of  lust 
And  curse  each  monster's  hairless  head. 
Where  fungus-fagots  gleam  unstunned 
As  witches  dig  unfathomed  holes 
And  bury  Helms  in  powdered  dust, 
Sleep  mourners  of  the  newly  dead 
Until  rayed  Aureoles  bright,  flare, 
And  sparkle  like  Asian  stars. 
Hyperaspists  of  templed  night, 
And  yawning  caverns  cold  and  bleak, 
Forsake  the  crown  of  addling  Care  ; 
Whilst  afrites  in  bright  jeweled  cars, 
Lured  by  the  phosphorescent  light, 
Scale  an  immarcescible  peak. 
When  giant  uncus'  of  the  damn'd 
Shake  Palsy's  wand  of  brooding  Fear, 
And  Hecate  spins  her  daughters  round 
The  whirling  halls  of  spastic  gloom  ; 
When  afreets  prance  on  blister'd  sand 
As  blood-shot  jazels  deck  each  peer, 


20  BETELGUESE 

Each  empire  froths  a  raving  hound 
That  storms  each  zone  of  purple  doom. 
And  scarlet  foam  and   hiss  of  oils, — 
Abhorrent  signs  of  yawning  hell  ! 
'Mid  roaring  winds  and  echoes  loud 
As  beaches  ring  with  Torture's  hold, 
Dim  shapes  writhe  in  a  cauldron's  coils 
While  cancere"d  ghouls  sound  Circe's  bell  ; 
Where  hideous  screes  stem  the  crowd, 
Faffling  gawks  gleam  like  burnished  gold. 

A  gangrel  imp  that  Satan  flayed, 
Shrieks  deeds  of  sin  that  man-wrecks  wrought 
Ere  gyving  Death  each  culprit  smote  ; 
Where  straggling  moonbeams  cleft  a  dome, 
A  Prince  in  splendor  stands  arrayed 
And  rants  his  spleen  unto  a  ghaut, 
Where  mongrel  whelps  their  sorrows  wrote 
In  channels  with  a  harlot's  bone. 

A  kingdom  vast  with  jasper  light 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  21 

Greet  jejune  souls  within  this  shoal, 
Where  witches  lure  each  helot's  eye, 
Each  gyving  hoodlum,  seer  and  sage. 
In  blazing  tankards  gleams  a  sight 
As  o'er  their  heads  giant  rocks  roll, 
Of  skinless  nudes  that  gasp  and  die 
As  poisoned  lizards  vent  their  rage. 
Then,  vile  squats  blast  the  eerie  air! 
Glozing  gnomes  of  pond'rous  built, 
Peer  at  plagues  that  goddard's  hold  ; 
Writhe  vermin  in  each  ghoul-king's  olpe, — 
Blind  death  within  a  secret  lair ! 
A  varlet  who  his  wine  hath  spilt 
As  Scorpions  smote  him  treblefold, 
Is  thrown  into  a  stagnant  sea 
By  Lordly  Helm  of  bad  repute, 
Whose  visage,  curl'd  in  ughly  mien, 
Vext  at  each  leper's  font  of  spleen, 
Invokes  a  hairless  witch  to  scan 
The  shambling  hordes  that  boon  refute, 
Who  lifts  her  unguis,  long  and  lean, 


22  BETELGUESE 

To  curse  each  vyper's  bloody  dream, 

Each  mongrel  and  forsaken  man. 

Then  quivers  that  cippus'  hurl'd 

As  templed  vaults  are  splinter 'd  wide; 

And  fearful  fancies  cleave  the  night 

When  reeking  gores  pierce  hollows  black, 

Smite  vandals  that  in  sleep  are  curl'd: 

And  naiads  that  the  vapours  hide 

In  shadows  vague — Unholy  light! 

(Spectres  to  each  soul  on  a  wrack) 

Dank  caverns  of  each  vaulted  soul 

With  spiral  thoughts  of  fevered  haste, 

'Mid  the  throb  of  murderous  life 

In  haunted  zones  of  vandals  gyte, 

Squirm  at  the  pulse  of  this  blind  shoal 

Where  blood-veined  dreams  and  acrid  waste 

Cut  thro'  the  senses  like  a  knife 

And  bid  Icarian  Thought  to  sit 

Below  a  bleak,  untower'd  home, 

Where  fagots  that  the  skelp  hath  stunned — 

Plunderers  of  unfathomed  night! 


A   TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  23 

Glare  thro'  black  shadows  vague  with  forms 

Convulsed  with  cries  that  pierce  each  dome 

As  impeached  gumps  seek  plains  unsunned, 

(Satellites  to  mounted  Light  !) 

Teem  in  the  wind-strewn  crest  of  thorns 

A  phantom  that  a  charnel  urn 

Spewed  from  its  lap  and  cancere"d  fold, — 

Trophies  of  grim  Destiny's  crypt ! 

A  burning  pyre,  whose  deadly  breath 

Stir  sighs  of  men  as  cesspools  burn 

A  harlot  strewn  with  virgin  gold 

That  some  malignant,  stol'n  script, 

Condemn'd  to  witches'  fateful  death, 

Spells  reigning  doom  to  one  and  all. 

Where  jarbling  gumps  ride  hydras  green, 
And  utter  sharp,  a  curdling  curse, 
And   wingless  zimbs  that  storm  each  dell, 
Glare  at  each  shatter'd  dome  and  wall 
That  speak  of  prowling  apes  in  dream, 
Of  dragons  drawing  Horror's  hearse 


24  BETELGUESE 

When  bloody  lanes  of  soulless  hell 
Bathed  monstrous  this  eternal  land. 

When  Soldans  clasp  dank  Vellum  old, 
And  carcants  shine  like  scarlet  foam, 
With  hiss  of  snakes  and  burning  oils 
As  dirges  sway  both  imps  and  damn'd, 
A  beacon's  light  that  cleft  Doom's  fold, 
Peers  at  the  Cyclopean  home 
Of  furnace-heat  and  writhing  coils 
Of  immewed  depths  as  cyphers  red 
Proclaim  each  gyving  monster's  deed. 
And   woful  runes  rake  this  giant  gloom, 
Phantastic  coals  lurk  in  the  dust, 
Blind  whelps  lie  in  an  onyx  bed 
And  ponder  words  as  thumb-screws  bleed 
(Unto     the  music  of  king  Doom) 
Each  gangrel  villains  heart  of  lust 

Beyond  the  halls  of  numbered  dead 
Where  lambent  lights  and  crystal  dews 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  25 

Invoke  the  ghouls  to  guard  each  tomb 
That  vandals  of  the  sobbing  night, 
When  hell-winds  stir  the  conquered  dead, 
And  thunder  shook  the  mourner's  pews, 
Giant  cavalcades  of  marshalled  Doom 
March  thro'  the  phosphorescent  light 
Unto  the  headland  of  the  West, 
Where  pageantries  of  warriors  bold 
Scyle  crafty  sins  and  purple  lusts 
Until  the  peaks  and  portals  bright, 
Where  buried  kings  are  tombed  at  rest, 
Sweat  odours  dank  with  Torpor's  cold; 
Infernal  paeons   shake  the  busts 
Of  idols  planted  in  the  light. 
And,  ere  immewed  gyres  froth  black  mists 
Unto  all  ghauts  and  splinter'd  domes 
That  cypher  signs  of  dungeoned  dell, 
A  turgid  dawn  arrays  this  vale, 
Each  dysodile  scavenger  sits 
On  a  tomb  and  fondles  gray  bones  ; 
An  eyeless  toad  croaks  from  a  well. 


26  BETELGUESE 

Then  cosmic  force  forsakes  each  dale  : 
'Mis  Cyclopean  pulse  of  hell 
Giant  cauldrons  vomit  vapours  green 
And  skirr  thro'  bristling  lanes  and  halls  : 
Whilst  beacons  die  and  shrood  each  soul, 
Dank  tears  drop  on  a  fatal  bell, 
Wrought  by  a  Titan's  sombre  queen, 
Where  graven  vypers  soop  the  walls 
With  blood  from  maidens  scourged  as  toll. 
Sentinel  silence  then  holds  gloom ! 
Vile  squats  curse  roaring  pools  inflame, 
A  swarthy  gump  leers  at  the  damn'd, 
A  sultry  storm  invades  each  realm. 
Reared  in  incondite  depths  of  doom 
As  shadows  spell  each  sinner's  name, 
A  Necromancer  mounts  a  stand 
That  storms  and  sleet  struck  with  their  helm, 
And  smites  the  weird  elements. 

A  cesspool  stunn'd  with  offal's  stench, 
And  ulexite — Each  mattoid's  curse  ! 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  27 

Set  in  twin  ridges  black  and  red, 
Obtest  the  foam-sprayed  battlements 
To  count  the  blood-drops  on  a  bench 
That  the  coals  of  Tartarus  nurse — 
Disastrous,  imbosked  Torture's  bed ! 
Make  viscous  this  grim  philster's  hold. 

i 
Saffron  Teocalli  in  the  West, 

Whose  spire'd  domes  hold  priceless  stones, 

And  censers'  fumes  lull  sighs  and  moans 

As  barriers  dank,  flee  their  fold, 

Betrayed  by  crystals  on  a  crest 

That  ride  this  kingdom's  batter'd  gnomes, 

A  fitful  syrinx  stills  all  groans 

As  chasms  roar  with  devils'  glee. 

Then  fancies  greet  each  goblin's  eye, 

Each  donga's  depth  and  mount  unsunned  : 

A  quire's  rune,  in  onyx  dress, 

And  black-linkt  harps  with  eyes  that  see 

Each  blood-set  jazel  in  a  sky, 

Where  heights  eternal  reign  unstunned, 


28  BETELGUESE 

Pierce  sylvan  airs  that  wizards  bless. 

Come  from  sequestered  shoals  of  hell 

Blithe  pixies  and  lithe  naiads  fair 

That  revel  till  the  ev'ning  skies 

Grow  lustrous  as  Arcadian  noon. 

Then  witches  in  an  implex  dell, 

With  stranggling  robes  and  burnished  hair, 

Flee  thro'  Autumnal  shades  and  dyes, 

While  quickly  from  the  sandaled  gloom, 

That  struggles  at  the  pillared  light, 

Provoked  by  turbid  drops  of  blood, 

She  gleams  upon  a  tower'd  home 

That  gyving  hands,  of  crafty  imps, 

Reared  for  the  Vandals  of  the  night, 

Where  seething  pores  froth  devils'  flood, 

And  dusky  shales  leak  scarlet  foam, 

Or  lightly  lifts  her  feet  and  skimps 

Unto  a  rubic,  bowere"d  vale, 

To  list  unto  a  clanging  bell 

That  spells  these  signs  to  startled  wrecks, — 

Titan's  satellites,  Hell  and  Circe! 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  29 

The  end  of  her  who  sought  a  dale 
Below  a  weird,  dungeoned  well, 
That  coffins  sunken  battle-decks 
And  a  phantasmagoric  hearse. 

To  muse  in  gorce's  dank  and  bleak 
'Mid  shatter'd  mounts  that  devil's  split! 
To  mourn  in  plasmic  Temple's  fold 
With  gyving  sod  no  King  can  shirk! 
A  spangled  pomp  of  Death's  gray  peak 
Where  owls  and  lizards  blink  and  sit 
As  curdling  cries  of  monsters  cold 
Pierce  hollows  deep  until  they  irk, 
Each  surf-thrown  afrite's  eclipsed  dome. 
And  cursing  clans  that  felt  the  heat 
That  dwale  obscured  in  shadows  vague, 
Clash  thro'  the  broken  forest  boughs 
Until  each  ronyon's  stuck  in  loam. 
There,  then,  bivouacs  a  unco  Cheat, 
Whose  limbs  were  struck  with  pains  of  ague, 
Who  lifts  his  sightless  eyes  and  sows 


30  BETELGUESE 

The  seeds  of  Thaumaturgist's  arts. 
Then  shakes  his  fist  above  all  necks 
(Whenas  the  dirges  pierce  the  gloom) 
And  sheds  his  addling  tears  of  woe. 
Perturbed  at  sights  of  flashing  darts 
That  dragons  hurl  amongst  soul-wrecks, 
He  smites  a  staff  upon  a  tomb 
Where  phosphorescent  torches  glow, 
And  mouths  his  words  at  earless  owls, 
Past  ribboned  dusk  and  pillared  woe, 
Where  sonless  maids  their  sorrows  heal, 
And  mixes  purple  mists  with  light, 
Both  moaning  airs  and  cringing  howls, 
The  swirling  skelp  that  heavens  show, 
And  changes  this  vast  plane  of  weal, 
This  kingdom's  tomb  of  rasping  night 
To  elfin  cheer  as  dances  bloom, 
And  speeds  his  flight  from  Terror's  urn, 
Past  jasper  lanes  where  moonstones  glow, 
And  turns  his  eyes  at  writhing  Hell, 
Upon  the  spectral  haunts  of  Doom, 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  31 

Where  fiends  in  hissing  Cesspoles  burn 
'Mid  howls  of  pain  from  vassals  flow 
That  rake  each  skull-blown  vale  and  dell. 

Where  syrt  sucks  jargling  javels  mad, 

And  carcants  cast  a  luring  light 

From  mildewed  screes  and  mounts  that  scyle 

Veiled  augueries  of  battling  Hell, 

A  charnel  shard  assails  the  damn'd 

Thro'  vapours  green  and  siffling  night; 

Monastic  caverns  rasp  each  isle; 

A  poisoned  skink  croaks  from  a  well. 

And  mournfnl  wraiths  sob  hard  and  loud, 

A  smothered  sigh  proclaims  more  woe, 

The  lounging  imps  grasp  tomes  of  old 

And  rant  therefrom  each  damn'd  one's  name. 

And  horrors,  snarling  at  each  crowd, 

Assail  each  kingdom  with  its  show: 

A  noctivagous  dragon  bold, 

Hastes  thro'  the  aisles  of  death  and  shame 

And  haunts  the  cajons  of  the  dead, 


32  BETELGUESE 

There  fungus-tapers  gleam  like  gold 
Before  a  ghoul-king's  jeweled  throne: 
There,  too,  upon  a  Temple's  arch, 
Bivouacs  a  witch  who  scans  the  bed 
Of  buried   kings  and  queens  struck  cold. 
And  lifts  her  voice  to  splinter'd  dome 
To  stem  the  brooding  Djinnee  march, 
And   with  the  dusk  that  meteors  split, 
She  tries  the  figgum  of  her  lust, 
And  throws  her  voice  at  portals  dark, 
Past  burning  pyres,  where  moaning  airs 
Call  the  help  of  Conjury's  script; 
And,  ere  cyphers  burn  in  the  dust 
The  names  of  new  souls  in  this  ark, 
The  ghosts  of  the  dead  prance  in  pairs. 
This  is  the  sphere  of  Dust  and  Tomb  ! 
Where  Trojans  struck  with  palsied  Death 
As  Satan  smote  each  cavern's  fold, 
And  whistling  heat  swirl'd  Circe  around 
The  coffined  slabs  of  Aeaea's  womb, 
When  kingdoms  fought  with  rasping  breath 


A   TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  33 

As  stellar  domes  grew  black  and  cold, 
Auric  oriflammes  storm'd  the  mount 
As  bristling  lances  smote  giant  hordes; 
Then  gorey  devils  fought  with  lust 
As  vulpine  cries  smote  each  jinn's  ear, 
Black  Dragons  swore  beneath  their  breath 
And  murdered  all  rebellious  Lords; 
Strong  hands  that  knew  each  axe's  trust, 
Escutcheons  that  all  princes  fear, 
Hurl'd  swift  destruction   and  black  death. 
Where  Titans  storm'd  a  Monarch's  throne, 
There  sleeps  a  Ruler  carved  in  stone; 
Where  vultures  guard  a  serpent's  home, 
A  quartered   warrior  tells  its  tale. 
Perturbed  at  dews  that  drip  from  dome 
As  wattling  apes  their  horrors  groan, 
The  witch  forsakes  each  glozing  gnome, 
Affrighted  at  this  gurgling  vale. 

On  crimson  mounts  where  hydras  peer — 
Affronting  devils  in  the  gloom  ! 


32  BETELGUESE 

There  fungus-tapers  gleam  like  gold 
Before  a  ghoul-king's  jeweled  throne: 
There,  too,   upon  a  Temple's  arch, 
Bivouacs  a  witch  who  scans  the  bed 
Of  buried   kings  and  queens  struck  cold, 
And  lifts  her  voice  to  splinter'd  dome 
To  stem  the  brooding  Djinnee  march, 
And   with  the  dusk  that  meteors  split, 
She  tries  the  figgum  of  her  lust, 
And  throws  her  voice  at  portals  dark, 
Past  burning  pyres,  where  moaning  airs 
Call  the  help  of  Conjury's  script; 
And,  ere  cyphers  burn  in  the  dust 
The  names  of  new  souls  in  this  ark, 
The  ghosts  of  the  dead  prance  in  pairs. 
This  is  the  sphere  of  Dust  and  Tomb  ! 
Where  Trojans  struck  with  palsied  Death 
As  Satan  smote  each  cavern's  fold, 
And  whistling  heat  swirl'd  Circe  around 
The  coffined  slabs  of  Aeaea's  womb, 
When  kingdoms  fought  with  rasping  breath 


A   TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  33 

As  stellar  domes  grew  black  and  cold, 
Auric  oriflammes  storm'd  the  mount 
As  bristling  lances  smote  giant  hordes; 
Then  gorey  devils  fought  with  lust 
As  vulpine  cries  smote  each  jinn's  ear, 
Black  Dragons  swore  beneath  their  breath 
And  murdered  all  rebellious  Lords; 
Strong  hands  that  knew  each  axe's  trust, 
Escutcheons  that  all  princes  fear, 
Hurl'd  swift  destruction   and  black  death. 
Where  Titans  storm'd  a  Monarch's  throne, 
There  sleeps  a  Ruler  carved  in  stone; 
Where  vultures  guard  a  serpent's  home, 
A  quartered   warrior  tells  its  tale. 
Perturbed  at  dews  that   drip  from   dome 
As  wattling  apes  their  horrors  groan, 
The  witch  forsakes  each  glozing  gnome, 
Affrighted  at  this  gurgling  vale. 

On  crimson  mounts  where  hydras  peer — 
Affronting  devils  in  the  gloom  ! 


34  BETELGUESE 

Unsyphere"d  regions  wrapped  in  light 
That  hide  dank  vapours  of  each  tomb, 
Lurk  throaty  imps  throughout  the  year 
Who  sing  their  runes  as  lepers  soom; 
Red-embered  gnomes  within  this  night 
Where  scarlet  dyes  bathe  Torture's  womb  ! 
And  Djinnee  gasps  add  to  the  sight 
That  dragon-worms  bred  in  this  surge, 
Build  temples  for  queen  Sorrow's  home; 
And  pageantries  of  Typhon's  bloorn — 
Immarcescible  sklayres  of  night  ! 
And  shadows  bleak,  that  sins  do  purge— 
A  show  for  Satan  on  this  throne ! 
Invoke  the  Cauldron's  spraying  gloom 
To  newer  deeds  of  hell-lashed  lust; 
Tho'  dusky  wizards  rake  the  skies 
(Eternal  hounds  that  all  beguile) 
Unstable  dreams  lure  Fancy  fane 
Below  this  star's  unfathomed  dust, 
Where  shatter'd  domes  list  to  the  sighs 
Of  skinless  wenches  on  an  isle, 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  35 

Where  nymphs  call  her  Christian  name. 
Where  purple  mists  like  poppies  bloom- 
Dank  dulse  within  green  rivers  cold  ! 
A  flayed  and  sobbing  maid   doth  lie; 
Eternal  curse  of  bedlam  night 
Speak  of  sepulchral  haunts  of  Doom; 
Unnumbered   skulls  their  woes  have  told 
To  studded  domes  and  opaque  sky 
Beneath  the  Arching  vales  of  light. 
Alight  with  fires  red  and  green 
That  show  the  coffers  of  each  tomb, 
Jarbling  vandals  rake  the  night-coals, 
Shales  and  husks;  and,  ere  reigning  night 
Provokes  each  harlot's  fitful  dream 
To  cleave  the  casements  of  king  Doom 
And  reach  the  swoll'n,  acrid  shoals, 
Where  stationed  Mounts  are  penciled  white 
That  mark  the  maw  of  raging  hell, 
Till,  eyes  awake  stare  at  each  flame 
Unsung  and,  on  boulders  that  burn, 
Peer  at  two  lordly  squats  in  dust 


36  BETELGUESE 

As  wenches  drink  from  poisoned  well, 
'Mid  purple  sins  and  naked  shame 
In  Typhon's  olpe  and  churning  urn 
Of  stranded  devils,  souls  and  lust. 

When  earthly  homes  are  tombed  in  dust, 
And  Life  forsakes  geotic  shoals; 
When  midst  the  tombs  of  penetence, 
When  coffins  damp,  and  slimmy  clay, 
Each  Lordly   Helm  is  tossed  in  trust 
To  spiral  vaults  from  plasmic  holes, 
Convolving  cyclones  spin  him  hence 
As  agate  torches  light  his  way. 
Unmuttere'd  sighs  teem  in  the  air 
As  structural  stars  pass  him  by, 
And  twisting  clouds  shape  eerie  forms 
Until  he  reaches  Satan's  home. 
Unholy  visions  curse  and  swear, 
Gyte  vypers  lull  each  demon's  sigh, 
Giant  Dragons   whom  no  Remorse  storms, 
Shake  fists  at  opals  in  a  dome. 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  37 

And  Cesspools  vext  with  odours  strong 
From  stifling  shard  and  putrid  dung, 
'Mid  caverns  large  and  Cauldrons  deep, 
Vile  squats  in  teeming  pewter  burn; 
And  shrieking  vypers  wield  a  prong 
Above  a  monster,  quarter'd  hung. 
The  Tasmanian  Devils  keep 
The  sod  turn'd  in  a  gyre's  urn 
That  no  lost  soul  can  undulate: 
Hence  seers  and  sages,  tossed  in  sin, 
Rant  rubies  to  each  reigning  king, 
Each  glowing  pyre  is  fed  with  oil 
By  afreets  reared  on  bottled  hate; 
Infernal  tapers  light  this  Inn 
As  poisoned  vapours  to  us  cling; 
Re-embered  beacons  on  this  soil 
Flare  spastic  shadows  to  each  tomb. 

In  vain  we  sigh  for  fleeing  grace 

Within  the  pale  of  turbid   dyes  ! 

In  vain  we  look  for  hope,  sweet  rest, 


40  BETELGUESE 

Sink  in  a  cajon's  livid  course; 

The  winds  and  storms  are  silent,   dead, 

As  barriers  red  bathe  the  waste. 

What  of  the  sight   when   Horrors  swirl, 

When  oceans  ring  with  Terror's  roll? 

What  of  the  galley-decks  and  wrecks 

That  felt  the  force   of  angry  Hell? 

When  kingdoms  fought  each  warring    Earl, 

The  incubi  cursed  each  lost  soul; 

When  vandals  broke  the  idols'  necks, 

Giant  battle-axes   smote  each  dell. 

And,  then  came  there  galvanic  gloom  ! 

An  acrid  oath  and  savage  howl, 

Hurl'd  at  an  idol's  austere  ghoul 

By  grizzled  rogue  and  mocking  gnome, 

Perturbed  as  vandals  shine  and  bloom 

In  robes  of  pearl  and  tazzled  cowl, 

Throw   Hecate's  spawn  into  a  pool 

Who  stung  them  with  a  poisoned  bone. 

This  wanton  witch  of  evil   fame, 

Vamped  with  both  hatred,   murder,  lust, 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  41 

Speeds  cycles  of  the  Future's  curse 
And   damns   each  goblin,   skink   and   knave. 
Then  pyres  and  ghauts  flare  once  again, 
The  halls  are  swept  with  burning  dust, 
Six  Dragons  bear  the  dead  one's  hearse 
Unto  the  newly,   opened  grave. 

Ere  the  quaking  Dawn  shakes  its  crown 
To  tower'd  peaks  and  hyoids  red 
That  hide  blind  fathoms  of  this  sea, 
An  opal   light  arrays  each  plain; 
Each  naiad  rumps  on  velvet  down; 
A  bat-shapped   Buzzard  makes  its  bed; 
A  red-tongued  Gecko  storms  each  lee. 
Then   apes  and  adders  writhe  with  pain 
As   Cauldrons  vomit  oils  that  burn; 
'Mid  churning  storms  of  stinging  sleet, 
Vial  haunts  of  gore  spill  their  quest 
And  murder  with  unholy  lust, 
Wilst  fagots,  beacons,  torches,  turn 
Hell's  Pompeian  shoals  to  heat; 


42  BETELGUESE 

And  viscid  mists  rise  in  the  West — 
Dank  treasures  of  Damnation's  dust  ! 
In  search  of  silence,  sleep  and  rest. 

When  in  a  vale  we  lie   and  dream 
Of  sanded  beach  and  laughing  skies, 
When  Fancy  lifts  her  wings  and  soars 
To  agate  strands  and  ocean's  breast, 
A  gangrel  soul  begins  to  scream 
Black  tokens  of  prevailing  sighs 
As  furnace-ovens  sweat  giant  pores. 
And  other  things  perturb  each  crypt, 
Each  vulture's  brood  and  figent  owls: 
A  belching  mountain  in  the  South 
Hurls  boulders  thro'  the  fearful  night: 
A  demon-quire  rants  from  script, 
Led  by  staccato  raspings,  howls  ; 
A  meteor  vaults  a  Cauldron's  mouth  ; 
A  sombre  maid  doth  long  for  light. 
Bleak  wintry  winds  engulf  us  all — 
Hosannah  !   cry  the  fretful  mobs  ; 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  43 

White-heated  storms  assail  all  heads — 
Triumphal  paeons  shake  the   air  ! 
Unnumbered  gawks  roam  thro'  each  hall — 
Where  Typhon  sits,   a   maiden  sobs ! 
Conscience  stabs  our  nightly  beds, 
Remorse  leers  daily  at  dame  Care. 

A   Donga,   deep  with  squirming  gnats 
And  acrid  coils, — a  hole  of  Death ! 
And  runnels  thick  with  arid  dung, 
Flow  past  a  Temple's  swoll'n  arch, 
Where  warring  tribes  of  hungry  cats 
Fish  for  green   lizards  filched   of  breath  ; 
A  palace-dome  where  runes  are  sung 
As  Satan  views  his  squadron's  march, 
Flare  twin  mineral  lights  of  blue 
That  lure  each  legion  foul  of  home. 
Swarm  Trojans  right  and  left  with  sword  ; 
Skirr  gloppened  worriers  thro'  the  night  ; 
Roar  puteals  that  toads  eschew ; 
Hiss  brown  snakes  to  each  toothless  gnome, 


44  BETELGUESE 

Affrighted  at  the  raving  horde 
That  crash  thro'  leprous  filth  and  light- 
Disastrous  sights  of  men  gone  mad ! 
And  pyramidal  wall  of  rock 
Are  battle-grounds  for  waging  lust : 
A  clashing  lance  spun  vypers  round 
The  gyrus  rind  where  helots  clad 
Each  Thaumaturgist  in  a  frock, 
The  sign  of  which  spake  added  trust 
Unto  each  ghoul-king's  able  hound. 
Crafty  Lords  of  militant  mien, 
Led  vanquished  to  the  slaughter-pen  ; 
Thumb-screws  and  bastinados  work 
Both  Devils'  pomp  and  Soldans'  joy ; 
And  tantrums  coarse  in  cesspools  teem 
As  women  sob  for  dying  men  ; 
The  wracks  that  djinnee  fear  and  shirk, 
Are  Torture's  friend — A  Monster's  toy ! 

The  rayless  styes  that  guard  the  bones 
Of  fall'n  kings  and  grizzled  hordes, 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  45 

The  mildewed  screes  that  hold  the  skulls 
Of  shambling  spectres,  wraiths,  and  souls, 
Now  waft  the  spired,  rasping  tones 
Of  risen  helots,  princes,  lords  ; 
And  all  up-rising   mists  from  hulls 
That  stranded  on  these  jejune  shoals, 
Evaporate  when  amber  lights 
Cleave  phantom-screens  and  huddles  black. 
(For  this  each  pixie  sings  for  cheer) 
Arcadian  sights  then  hold  sway  : 
Each  corporal  gump  loves  the  sights — 
The  hidden  past  (an  endless  track) 
Reviews  each  garnered  Greek  and  year, 
Each  warrior  bold  and  lassie  gay. 

Sanious  lights  beyond  the  height, 
Imbosked  dysodile  vaults  of  dwale 
As  ulexite   flare  in  the  rocks 
Where  implex  aisles  lead   to  gyte  doom, 
Lure  illaqueate  Thought  to  flight, 
And  at  a  Cyon,  chained  in  stall, 


46  BETELGUESE 

Whom  mad  Medeas  shore  of  locks, 

Chase  Fancy's  wings  where  hazards  bloom. 

Here  herculean  dwangs  of  gold, 

Clasped  in  talons  of  Circe's  son, 

Pry  portals  of  Teocalli  as, 

When  hyoids  blaze  like  sea-linkt  skies, 

Incondite  imps  seek  grovels  cold, 

Unfathomed  haunts  that  scyle  each  sun, 

We  see  above  the  lees  green   grass 

Where  pixies  laugh  with  dancing  eyes, — 

King  Wonder's  sight  that  holds  each  heart ! 

Above  the  rind  of  Ursa's  wake, 

Past  shadows  vague  and  sunless  suns, 

Giant  visions  of  the  cancelled  past 

Rise  from  the  void  and  play   their  part. 

Demeter  floats  around  a  lake ; 

Where  waters  with  a  naiad  runs, 

Hector's  shot  by  Archilles'  dart  ; 

Where  Orestes  stabs  his  mother, 

Agamemnon  sleeps  on  in  cold  ; 

Aegisthus  robs  a  queen  of  all  ; 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  47 

Andromache  sobs  tears  of  woe. 
And  Clytaemenestra's  lover, 
Like  Menelous,  is  strong  and  bold  : 
Aeneas  on  a  burning  wall 
Carries  Anchises  from  the  show. 
Then  vulgar  scenes  stare  at  each  soul, 
Hair-raising  visions  greet  each  eye ; 
Priam's  son  is  dragged  round  ancient  Troy, 
Tied  fast  to  a  chariot's  tail ; 
Andromeda's  doomed  as  Death's  toll ; 
Patroclus  dies  with  a  deep  sigh. 
Phyrrhus  sacks  Troy   with  a  devilish  joy  ; 
Hecuba's  nineteen  sons  now  wail 
As  Mycenae  and   Tiryns  are  burn'd: 
The  Scaean  Gate  is  storm'd  by   Peers ! 
Archaeans  and  Phrygians  bold 
Have  fought  with  Hatred's  biting  lust. 
Telemachus  whom  the  Fates   have  spurn'd 
Finds  Ulysses  in   twenty  years ; 
Thessalian  Soldans  in  gold, 
Like  Daedalus,  slept  on  in  dust 


48  BETELGUESE 

As  Penlope  winged  for  distant  zones. 
Then  Syran  airs  held  each  ear: 
Bright  carvels  glowed  with  rubic  wine, 
Giant  cyphers  flared  each  Lordling's  name 
Within  the  haunts  of  dungeoned  domes, 
Where  jazels  peer  the  eyes  of  Fear, 
And  owls  with  a  scorpion  dine — 
Twin  Monarch's  play  the  dice's  game. 

When  beacons   urticate  each  eye, 
Noctivagous  ghouls  haste  to  stroke 
Each  goblin  shank  of  hoary  sage. 

Then  pomp  of  gloom  breaks  into  bloom, 
The  Temple's  arch  cracks  as  we  sigh, 
A  clashing  sound  above  that  spoke 
Blind  wrath  unto  each  Wizard's  rage, 
Revealed  the  chasm  of  stark  Doom. 
Unto  the  peaks  and  gables  black, 
Syrian  airs  like  Orpheus 
Lull  sequestered  afrites  to  sleep, 
A  witch  smites  her  high  biforous — 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  49 

A  symbol   of  king  Typhon's  wrack  ! 
Where  crystal  lamps  shine  most  glorious, 
Twin  legions  lie  in  cajons  bleak, — 
Tokens  of  Hell  invidious  ! 
Then  fades  the  burnished   light  on  high; 
Magicians  stave  their  heads  in  dust, 
The  vermin  feed  on  reeking  bones, 
Each  gnome  sobs  to  a  green-horn'd  toad. 
And  monarchs  of  this  dungeoned  sky 
Untomb  each  son  in  sacred  trust 
As  vypers  sound  their  rasping  tones, 
Farewell  the   ancient  Greek's  abode  ! 
Then  spectres  of  the  tower'd  night, 
(Vultures  of  the  sun,   moon  and  stars) 
And  bezzling  parasites  of  dawn, 
Haunt  ichnolite  of  mourners  cold ; 
Then  purple  sins  bloom  in  the  light 
As  vypers  drive  queens  in  bright  cars ; 
Where  dragons  root  the  blistere'd  lawn, 
There  reigns  a  curdling  monster  bold. 


50  BETELGUESE 

To  scour  these  lanes  of  strobic  gloom — 
Infernal   doom  by  mongrels'  wrought ! 
To  pace  these  aisles  of  whistling  heat, 
Eternal  signs  of  souls  gone  wrong ! 
And   when  a  skelp  cleaves  siffling  doom, 
And  vapours  scyle  a  greenish  ghaut, 
Rebellious  vandals  stamp  their  feet 
As  rulling  Cyons  wield  hell's  prong. 
Then  domes  and  walls  sweat  savage  rage, 
Each  gangrel   gnome  is  toss'd   by   fear, 
The  tombs  provoke  each  inmate's  keep 
To  curse  the  horrid  atmosphere, 
Where  ghouls  their  battle-axes  wage, 
Froth  devils'  pomp  throughout  the  year  ; 
Where  lizards  o'er  tath  do  creep, 
Bivouacs  a  horney-fisted  seer. 

To  groves  of  wind-swept  ulmus'  bear, 
And  siffling  mists  beyond  a  bell 
That  hide  veiled  shadows  of  a  peak 
Above  the  stationed  domes  of  red, 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  51 

Augueries  of  a  marching  pair, — 

Twin  demons  of  unconquere"d  Hell! 

Spell  visions  that  the  soffins  leak 

That  felt  the  besom  of  the  dead, 

Just  as  the  Twilight's  scarlet  urn 

Is  seen  from  heights  unfathomed,   strong. 

There  runnels  of  green  waters  cold, 

Toss  lepers  from  their  murky  breast; 

There  venom-oils  and  tapers  burn 

To  light  the  way  of  souls  gone  wrong, — 

Blood-stained  each  idol's  crown  of  gold 

Where  battle-wrecks  seek  figent  rest  ! 

To  the  distant  porphyry  mount 
Where  agate  torches  shine  most  bright, 
And  syrinx's  float   music's  charm 
O'er  the  jargling  herds  of  tombed, 
A  joggling  javel   begins  to  count, 
With  bleary  eyes  of  grayish  light, 
The  rubies  on  each  idol's  arm, 
And  whisper  words  unto  the  tombed. 


52  BETELGUESE 

Now  to  a  churning  gyre's  pool 

We  haste  to  see   a  weird  show, 

Where  Lordly  Helms  in  vials  squirm, 

Each  mongrel  scoundrel's  olpe  of  wine ! 

A  Morgan  gambles  with  a  ghoul, 

A  Belmont  writhes  with  sizzling  woe, 

A  Rockefeller  leads  each  worm, 

Another's  known  as  T.  F.  Ryan. 

The  browless  whelp  of  oily  fame 

Is  made  to  dig  the  burning  soil, 

The  sheckles  of  a  Pierpont  king, 

Secures  no  prestige  in  this  Inn. 

The  gambling  ghost  whose  middle  name 

Is  "Fortune",  spins  within  the  swirl 

Of  waters  cold  and  oceans'  ring, 

Condemned,  forsaken  for  his  sin. 

On  earth  they  plunder'd,  robbed  and  stole 

From  month  to  month  and  year  to  year; 

There  Franchise-stealers  cracked  with  leers 

As  Plebeians  stung,  groaned  with  might. 

Now   one  and  all  damn'd  on  this  shoal 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  53 

Yuck  addling  brains  and  shriek  with  fear, 

Now  all  shrink  at  Hell's  laughing  seers 

As  Remorse  storms  the  ughly  night. 

Here  Pat  McCarrens  filch  no  vote, 

A  Grady  eats  no  mellow   pea, 

A  Murphy  owns  no  City  Hall, 

No  Jeromes  skew  at   dices'  song. 

On  Vellum  gray  their  sins  are  wrote 

To  murmurs  of  each  sullen  lee, 

Racked  with  the  wand  of  death  and  pall, 

They  blast  their  heads  as  souls  gone  wrong. 

No  presidential  timber's  found 

Within  these  caverns,  pools  or  dung; 

No  two-faced  B's  or  bloated  T's, 

Lie  to  laymen,  vassals,    hordes. 

Here  politicians  hear  the  sound 

Of  ballots  that  their  hearts  have  wrung, 

Of  burning  pyres  and  blister'd  lees 

That  scorch  these  one-time  kings  and  lords. 

Here  Conventions  hold  our  eyes 

As  Dragons  smite  a  gravel  dome. 


54  BETELGUESE 

The  kings  of  Finance,  skinn'd  and  shorn, 
Are  list'ners  in  these  halls  of  gloom. 
Their  deeds  are  read,  they  heave  giant  sighs, 
Thumb-screws  and  wracks  rake  skin  and  bone, 
In  cajons  bleak,  each  corpse  forlorn, 
Is  sunk  as  trophies  of  king  Doom. 
No   Depews  sell  their  patron's  love, 
No  faffling  Platts  guard  treasures  strong, 
No  Parkers,  Roots, — The  crafty  things  ! 
Betray  a  country's  hope  and  trust. 
No  palm  is  brought  them  by  a  dove, 
No  minions   shant  their  praise  in  song, 
The  poisoned  zimbs  add  to  the  stings 
Of  conscience  lost  and  raging  lust. 
Each  one-time  king  of  earthly  fold 
Is  skinn'd  alive  then  cooked  in  oil  ; 
Some  frazzled   Astor  dames  and  fools 
Now  eat  their  claws  and  chew  a  bone. 
A  monarch  known  as  Leopold, 
Writhes  in  a  cavern's  squeezing   coil  ; 
Here  man-born  helms  are  but  the  tools 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  55 

Of  Satan  and  each  prowling  gnome. 
Their  toes  are  screwed  and  eyes  are  bored, 
Their  ears  are  shorn  and  lips  are  split, 
Each  head  is  cracked,  all  tongues  are  cut, 
By  vypers  red  and   bloody  ghouls. 
Affrighted  as  the  dames  are  gored, 
Each  Sybarite  his  teeth  doth  grit, 
The  huddled  pirates  in  a  hut, 
Shriek  help  unto  the  roaring  pools. 
And  moaning  airs  their  sorrows   tell 
That  some  unfathomed  force  hath  bred. 
Night-hawks  rasp  sins  of  women,  men, 
Who  sold  their  honour,  soul  and  name. 
And  tower'd  screes   that  pierce  giant  hell 
Are  treasure-houses   for  the  dead: 
Each  rich  man  writhes  within  a  den, 
Society   dames  proclaim  their  shame. 
And  offal,  shard  and  putrid   dung, 
Is  by  affluent  daughters  born. 
When  in  the  ribboned   mists  above 
A  beacon  flares  and  torches  burn, 


56  BETELGUESE 

A   Soldan  from  green   earth  is  hung  ; 
His  heartless  queen  is  cursed,  forsworn, 
Their  souls  house  neither  hope  nor  love 
Within  Damnation's  burning  urn. 
Repress'd  with  hate  and  unspent  rage 
As  charnel  howls  clash  in  each  hall, 
Each  gyving  hydra  rends  the  air 
With  curses,   hawps  as  rambling  souls, 
Lured   by  a  grizzled  warrior  sage, 
Storm  moats  before  each  bristling  wall 
And  die  as  imps  are  bade  to  swear — 
Infernal  trophies  of  these  shoals  ! 
Immingled  dreams  their  senses  storm 
As  Westward  shadows  cloak  each  lee; 
Where  censers  blaze  they  drag  their  limbs, 
These  cursed,  forsaken  whelps  of  hell ! 
Their  ghastly  sins  on  vellum's  sworn, 
Attested,  sealed,  they  bend  each  knee  ! 
Where  devils  rant  blood-curdling  hymns, 
A  raving  wench  drowns  in  a  well. 
Unto  the  coals  of  fevered  pyres 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  57 

That  glare  like  carcants  red  and  white  ; 

And  glowing  rubies  in  the  dust 

That  lure  each  man-born  skink  and  whelp, 

The  spastic  cries  and  moaning  sighs 

Attest  to  Typhon's  weird  dight, — 

And  Satan's  ichor  of  green  lust, 

Provokes  the  lashing  heat  and  skelp. 

Within  the  cathedral  vaults  of  gloom, 
The  gorgeous  pomp  of  the  flayed, 
In  banded  gold  and   marble  flesh, 
Speak  of  auguries  to  the  damn'd, 
Till,   when  censers'  lights  flare  and  bloom, 
And  shapes  of  men  are  laid  arrayed 
In  gomes  of  steel,   we  tred   the  mesh 
And  grandeur  of  a  conjured  stand, 
Where  coral  wreathes  each  hussy's  brow, 
Whose  broken  arms  portray  hell's  lust, 
Of  whistling  winzes,  syrt  and  domes 
That  gleaming  broths  in   anger  wrought, 
'Mid  hiss  of  snakes  and  oils.     So  now, 


58  BETELGUESE 

When  plundered  tombs  betray  their  trust, 
And  vandals  screech  at  roving  gnomes, 
All  raise  a  voice  and  curse  each  ghaut. 

Beyond  the  ring  and  roll  of  hell — 
And  spiral  lofts  of  quartz  and  gold — 
We  skirr  upon  the  crutch  of  haste 
And  cleave  the  abyss,  cold  and  bleak. 
There  jejune  fossils  lie  to  tell 
Of  pleiocene  days'  garnered  fold; 
Gray  bones  that  pierce  this  weird  waste 
Lie  mounted  on  a  torrid  peak; 
Principalities   of  the  past, 
Lie  scatter'd  in  the  mildewed  dust; 
Serai's  built  in  ages  gone, 
Now   crumble  at  a  sound,  a  voice. 
And  Boulders  that  the  Djinnee  cast 
As  Vengeance  swirl'd  the  heated  dust, 
Now  rock  as  devils  rasp  a  son, 
And  vampyres  dance  round  and  round. 
And  where  a  dim,  unstudded  dome 


A   TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  59 

Leak  odours  strong  and  palsied  light — 
Twins  of  the  Gloom  !  as  some  mad  soul 
Assails  Typhon's  battling  walls, 
A  glowing  fire  of  this  home 
Of  deadly  dews  and  poisoned  night, 
Bathes  monstrous  this  untower'd  shoal. 
Convulsed  with  fear  as  aisles,  and  halls 
Roar  like  giant  cauldrons  mad  for  gore, 
Icarian  gumps  and  devils  bold, 
Assault  each    marshalled  mount  and  scree. 
Then  spectacles  greet  us  again 
Upon  this  shadowed,  foreign  shore: 
A  ponderous  dwang  of  virgin  gold, 
Is  filched  from  altars  that  we  see, 
Just  as  the  tomb-sweats  pour  like  rain. 
And  distant  ghauts  where  jazels  burn, — 
(A  burning  tomb  where  hissing  oils 
Drip  on  a  flayed  and  bottled  wench 
That  some  abhorrent  spawn  of  death 
Filched  from  the  wrack  of  Terror's  urn 
As  stagnent  breath  unwinds  its  coils) 


60  BETELGUESE 

Spout  uncoped  shard  unto  a  bench 
Where  sights  of  men-wrecks  gasp  for  breath, 
Whilst  quickly  from  a  bowelless  whelp 
Drop  ghastly   stones  of  scarlet  hue 
That  brazen  imps  hurl  thro'  the  air 
At  sobbing  wraiths  and  furrowed  souls, 
Wrought  by  a  fiend  and  conjured  skelp 
As  men  and  women  hold  a  pew 
Within  a  turgid,  acrid  lair, — 
Infernal  aisles  of  yawning  shoals  ! 

T'ward  cyphers  bright  and  terrible, 
Where  Doom  sits  poised  as  Satan  yawns, — 
Each  Vulture's  home  and  arid  shoal  ! 
We  hurl  a   curse  and  damn  the  hordes 
That  call  each  monster  horrible. 
Then  craftily  he  moves  his  pawns 
(Whenas  a  moan  escapes  each  soul) 
As  bleary  sons  of  noble  lords 
Sway  twin  censers'  fumes  in  silence, 
Until  in  myrtle  groves  we  see 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  61 

A  blazing  arch  where  agate  eyes 

Doth  peer   malignly   from  a  crypt 

Thro'  turbid  phials  of  violence, — 

A  scene  of  impish  sorcery  ! 

Where,   in  furbished  chambers  there  lies — 

As  vypers  write  on  evil  script 

The  ghastly  deeds  that  sinners  wrought — 

A  glow-worm's  fagot  that  arrays 

Dim  shapes  of  souls  of  men  that  were. 

And  cyphers  nights  of  doomes  to  be, 

Till  flaring  pyres  and  yon  red  ghaut — 

So  monstrous  bright  that  some  one  prays— 

And  Vizy's  carvel  starts  to  stir, 

Shape  abhorrent  signs  on  each  lee. 

Into  the  dusky  coals  we  peer, 
And  musing  at  the  luring  flames, 
We  watch  each  isle  of  crystal  green. 
Anear  the  billows  swirl  with  rage, 
'Mid  lashing  waves  that  cope  king  Fear 
To  strands  and  sands  where  elfin  games 


62  BETELGUESE 

Make  rich  each  midnight's  fleecy  dream 
That  some  Mad  wand'ring,  goblin  sage, 
Provoked  from  coffers  of  each  brain, 
Gleam  in  each  tossing  breast  of  foam, 
Or  shines  from  purple  decks  and  domes 
A  ruddy  carcant  huge  and  large; 
Or,  when  sea-linkt  clouds,  garbed  in  rain, 
And  behemoths  sink  to  briny  home, 
A  star  that  shines  from  foreign  zones 
Guide  carvels  old  and  Satan's  barge 
O'er  blue  profounds  of  the  deep, 
And  gladden  souls  of  men;  yet,  stunned, 
Tho'  trembling,  to  a  roaring  mouth, 
A  horn'd  magician   locked  in  death, 
On  whom  two  hectic  harlots  peep, 
Sinks  in  abyssal  depths  unsummed, 
Whilst  him  he  fought  hastes  to  the  South,- 
A  hoary  fiend  of  rasping  breath  ! 

And  now  we  watch  a  maiden  flee, 
Past  seas  and  ice-mounts  oriflammed 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  63 

With  crystal  diamonds  red  and  bright, 
Where  Persephone  hath  breathed  a  jem, 
And  frozen  jazels  that  we   see, 
Alife  with  lusts  of  curst  and  damn'd, 
Tho'  windblown,   thro'  the  moonless  night, 
She  wanders  with  her  anadem 
On  golden  hair;  nor  doth  she  haste 
When  scarlet  eyes  peer  thro'  the  snow, 
But  caverne'd  mouths  of  grottoes  black, 
And  storm-swept  flight  of  dragons  bold, 
She  passes  as  she  treads  the  waste, 
Off  to  the  haunts  of  ghoullish  show, 
Where  fires  writhe  and  whispers  track 
Her  wake  unto  the  peaks  of  cold, 
Above  whose  tower'd  dome  she  sees 
The  tombs  of  father,  mother,   all; 
Ay,  now  weeps  she  as  the  head-stones 
Letter  large,  her  unburied  kin. 
Now  with  her  trembling  arms  and  knees, 
And  back  against  the    slimmy  wall, 
She  vents  her  tears  and  choking  moans, 


64  BETELGUESE 

A  daughter  cursed  within  this  Inn. 
And  witches  long  for  ease,  so, 
Erelong  they  peer  at  waters  green 
That  pour  in  forges  dank  and  cold, 
Whence  glare  the  eyes  of  Hell  in  lust 
As   Cyclops  stem  the   pyre's  glow, 
'Mid  haunts  of  sin  and  purple  sheen 
Of  shales  and  husks  of  monsters  told 
As  vultures  to  both  scale   and   dust. 
Then  wing  they   for  the   western   strands 
Of  bowere*d  vales  and  lulling  dells, 
Where  silence  holds  the  winds  at  bay, 
And  myrtles  stir  the  sylvan  air. 
There  tow'rs  and  the  russet  sands 
Make  fine  the  tunes  of  ringing  bells 
That  echo  to  the  skies  of  gray, 
Where  phosphorescent  lanterns  flare. 
And  twilights  of  the  lofty  aisles, 
Thro'  silver  mists  and  streaks  of  blood, 
Crucifixion  looms  cold  and    white; 
Oaths  of  prurient  blasphemy 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  65 

Echo  to  the  sequestered  isles; 
An  ivory  pyx  that  rides  the  flood 
On  which  fantasms  spin  their  light, 
Curse  each  soul's  eternal  enemy. 
Within  a  pool  where  writhing  coils 
Shape  cyphers  bold  and  gorey  thought, — 
Two  shadowed  sklayres  of  Doom  and  Set ! 
The  foam-dreams  of  the  newly  dead 
Ascend.     To  hazards  that  the  oils 
Eschewed,  haste  dryades  that  were  taught 
To  dance.     And,  whilst  all  souls  forget 
The  chasms  deep  and  oriflammed, 
The  spastic  lights  of  a  green  room, 
Dim  torches  show  the  jeweled  tombs 
Wherein  are  hid  the  studded  crowns 
Of  Eastern  queens;  or,  when  high-bred 
Dames  pick  from  Death's  unbroken  womb 
The  coral  wreaths  and  poppy  blooms, 
Two  priestesses  in  scarlet  gowns 
Curse  loudly  as  the  royal  dead 
Are  strewn  with  palmy  leaves  and  dyes. 


66  BETELGUESE 

And  crimsons  adders  on  the  hulls, 
Search  for  toadstools  smeared  with  blood. 
And  livid  lamps  where  vypers  spoon, 
As  some  bad  harlot  shrieks  and  cries 
Her  Nature's  sins  unto  three  skulls, 
A  shameless  gnome  bathes  in  hell's  flood 
The  thighs  he  filched  from  a  gray  tomb. 

Drawn  by  the  whispers  from  the  wind, 
'Mid  glories  of  the  hollowed  night, 
To  storm-swept  vales  and  mounts  we  haste, 
And,  in  monastic  halls  we  see, 
Above  a  greenish  gyrus  rind, 
The  flick'ring  flames  of  a  light, 
Beneath  whose  subtle,  shadowed  waste 
Squat  men  and  women  that  would  flee 
The  ghastly  words  from  Vellum  told, 
Who  pluck  their  eyes  and   pull  their  hair, — 
Beneath  their  feet  there  writhes  a  worm  ! 
As  bludgeons  smite  a  leering  soul. 
And  when  a  wench  that  Satan  sold 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  67 

To  some  old  seer,  whose  head  is  bare, 
And  oily  snakes  in  cauldrons  squirm, 
All  blast  the  sight  and  curse  this  shoal, — 
Infernal  land  of  Sin  and  Doom  ! 
Eternal  moans  and  sighs  we  hear; 
A  swarthy  demon  laughs  with  glee. 
Then,  thickly  from  a  ghastly  hole 
The  turbid  dyes  of  blood  doth  bloom 
From  minxes  bold,  crouched  with  giant  fear, 
Provoke  a  sage  who  could  not  see, 
With  feelings  for  her  impeached  soul. 

Low  arches  of  a  charnel  house, 
Above  whose  dome  two  demons  sit, 
That  guard  the  lamps  of  fateful  red, 
Veiled  whispers  from  a  maiden's  soul 
Cleave  skyward  until  they   arrouse 
A  savage  hound  of  hell  with  script 
That  holds  her  body's  deeds.     A-bed, 
He  peers  thro'  shades  unto  her  shoal, 
Then  at  his  tome  where  sins  are  wrote 


68  BETELGUESE 

Of  wifes  that  sold  their  names  in  lust, 
Or  men  that  worshipped  naught  but  gold. 
And,  when  stillness  holds  troubled  sway, 
A  baneful  imp  that  Conscience  smote, 
Rasps  names  of  those  bowed  in  the  dust: 
And,  when  thus  their  sins  are  foretold, 
As  kinsmen  strike  their  beasts  and  pray, 
A  livid  gasp  permeates  the  air, 
A  curdling  curse  assails  the  night. 
And  squats,  whose  scarlet  venom  crawls 
To  lantern's-glow  that  tell  the  guilt 
Of  battling  demons  as  they  swear, 
Malignly  dumb  below  each  light 
That  scyle  the  bloody  walls  and  halls, 
The  life-ebb  from  a  wench  is  spilt. 
The  phosphorescent  fungus-lights 
Are  traitors'  lamps  that  sorrows  hide; 
The  foam-sprayed  beaches  that  we  see, 
Are  treasure-houses  for  the  damn'd. 
From  year  to  year  infernal  nights 
Rasp  shoals  a  thousand  furlongs  wide; 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  69 

In  ev'ry  zone,  each  distant  lee, 
Holds  ghastly  sights  of  burning  sand. 
The  headlands  that  we  reach  by  day, 
About  whose  shore  the  dragons  roam; 
And  mildewed  vaults  of  gathered  bone, 
Where  eyeless  skulls  and  ape-shanks  lie 
As  moaning  winds  reel  to  and  sway 
From  gorey  pools  and  tower'd  dome, 
A  goggling  wraith  and  shambling  gnome 
Doth  forage  for  each  fleeing  sigh. 

Now  Sorrow  that  the  Dooms  crown'd  King, 
Flees  from  the  mouth  of  pools  inflame, 
Whilst  Lords  in  robes  of  scarlet  hue, 
Add  to  the  damn'd,  malignant  show; 
Pellicles  that  all  eyes  did  sting 
In  Vengeance's  law  that  none  could  tame, 
Flees  whence  two  lights  of  dreaming  blue 
Cleave  dome-thrown  shadows  dress'd  in  woe. 

A  Thaumaturgist,  cursed  and  damn'd, 


70  BETELGUESE 

Raps  skulls  from  which  a  venom  pours, 
And  shakes  his  fists  where  opals  burn, 
Whence  figgum  that  his  hands  control 
Is  charged  with  life;  and  on  the  sand 
Two  witches  sate  their  thirst  in  gores, 
Flit  Fancy's  wings  unto  a  urn, 
(Within  whose  tomb  there  writhes  a  soul) 
And  with  Courage  that  Dawn  hath  bred 
In  rivers,  to  whispers  of  the  night, 
As  wracks  are  dyed  a  crimson  red, 
Feasts  upon  Doom's  abhorrent  shape, 
That  fires  bright,  toss  to  each  bed, 
And  flees  to  realms  where  shadows  light; 
Whilst  Thought,  in  horror  of  the  dead, 
Wings  in  mourning  veils,  dark  rs  crepe, 
And  feasts  on  afterglow  of  Trust, 
On  cauldrons   tossed  to  crafty  Death 
That  froths  dank  pomp  and  guidons  bright, 
Unto  a  height,  where  falt'ring  eyes, 
Betrayed  by  crystals  numb  in  dust, 
Gasps  at  the  sight  with  startled  breath 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  71 

As  vapours  green,  war  with  the  light, 
Faint  as  the  sunset's  golden  dyes. 
All  mounts  of  bone  are  tombs  of  weal, 
Each  scree,  a  temple  of  king  Doom; 
And  runnels  that  the  suns  do  shun, 
Are  pools  where  offal  reeks  most  strong 
And  thro'  the  air  giant  wasps  do  reel; 
On  barriers  bleak,  reptiles  soom; 
A  Vulture  that  no  shard  can  stun 
Gawks  at  the  multitudes  gone  wrong. 

Where  waters  with  the  venom  crawls 

To  oriels,  where  banners  float 

Beside  a  dome-thrown  surf  of  blood 

T'ward  letters  large,  that  Hell  hath  wrought, 

Worm-like  vapours  skirr  thro'  the  halls 

And  reach  a  distant,  lurid  moat, 

Where  sighs  and  groans  upon  a  flood 

Ascend  to  heights  of  a  grey  ghaut — 

Satellites  to  Destiny's  crypt ! 

And  Vespers  that  the  Twilight  brought — 


72  BETELGUESE 

More  dooms  that  prayers  nor  sighs  can  break — 

Leer  at  each  thought  to  Fancy's  flight; 

And  to  the  dais  whereunder  sit 

A  demon-quire  that  Circe  taught, 

Songs  that  echo  to  the  isles  in  lake 

And  valley  deep,  ravage  the  night 

Until  Idols  pall  at  the  scene. 

And  stationed  Mounts  toward  the  West 

Whose  bones  portray  a  ghastly  lust; 

And  skulls  that  glare  at  the  soulless  night, 

Point,  weeping,  where  the  foam-waves  dream: 

All  battle-wrecks  and  imps  haste  forth 

Unto  the  phosphorescent  dust 

And  pyramidal  shoals  of  light. 

The  poisons  that  the  geysers  spit 
To  apes,  where  Sin  in  splendor  reigns; 
And  cavern'd  shapes  that  shadows  hide 
Behind  tapers,  where  snarling  Doom 
Glares  at  Set's  tomb,  where  devils  sit, 
Make  vague  signs  to  the  weird  flames, 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  73 

Flit  spastic  breath  to  regions  wide 

And  shrood  each  shrunken  soul  with  gloom. 

Where  glozing  parasites  hold  sway, 

Seek  rivers  dry  reveal  the  bones 

Of  ages  that  the  Cyclops  slew: 

Onyx  thrones  that  the  Titans  storm'd 

Lie  in  obfuscating  decay; 

Eyeless  skulls  that  abhorrent  gnomes 

Wield  in  hands  that  reek  with  the  dew 

That  solemn  Death  in  tombs  hath  worm'd, 

Stare  at  the  scene  as  willows  sigh: 

And  tapers  of  the  Mount's  crown'd  witch 

(Whenas  each  carcant  fades  from  view) 

Seek  shadows  that  the  tombs  have  cast 

Upon  the  conjured,  wind  blown  sky, 

Where  Syrian  altar-lamps  make  rich 

The  palace-domes  whereon  the  dew 

Sits  like  a  star  and  beams  upon  the  vast, 

Phantasmagoric  glory  of  Death, 

Of  godly  helms  housed  in  a  crypt. 

And  where  a  livid  beacon  flares — 


74  BETELGUESE 

(A  rock  that  some  giant  storm  hath  split) 
In  mourning  robes  and  rasping  breath, 
Before  a  grave  where  devils  sit, 
A  Queen  at  whom  a  lizard  stares, 
Sobs  her  grief  and  woe  that  tears  writ 
Deep  into  the  phorphyry   mount: 
This,  then,  is  Deaths  home,  vale  and  Tomb! 
Where  Lancers,  made  equal  with  the  dust 
When  revolt  storm'd  each  kingdom's  fold, 
And  clashing  wars  spun  Hecate  round 
The  pungent  halls  of  spastic  Doom; 
When  in  each  Nation  fought  king  Lust 
As  siffling  vapours  gleamed  like  gold, 
Ten  legions  whom  the  gods  forsook 
Wrought  havoc  on  this  Cauldron's  shore: 
Then  Dragon-guidons  led  the  march 
As  battle-axes  smote  vile  Lords; 
Stout  hears  that  with  king  Vengeance  shook, 
Fought  with  valour's  shield  for  more  gore; 
Assaults  that  rasped  each  Temple's  arch, 
Spake  conquest  o'er  shambling  hordes. 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  75 

This  tale  on  ghastly  Vellum's  writ, 
More  sypher'd  woes  the  walls  proclaim; 
Where  goblins  fondle  crumbling  bones, 
There  lies  a  death-thrown  monster  cold. 
Perturbed  at  writings  on  yon  script 
As  moaning  airs  gaunt  Sorrows  name, 
Each  ape  attests  in  faffling  tones — 
Flight  to  the  Dragons'  haunted  fold. 
Affrighted  at  this  fearful  gaze 
As  coals  blaze  like  twinkling  jewels, 
Night-hawks  that  croak   at  bat-faced  owls 
Gledge  at  each  gnome  that  digged  a  bone 
From  some  bleak  pool,  and  pierce  the  haze 
Where  censers  blaze.     Unconquere"d  ghouls 
Who  laugh  and   leer  at  demon  howls, 
Make  signs  unto  the  hell-lashed  foam — 
Japes  that  the  damn'd  fear  in  each   knell ! 

Where  jargling  javels  stab  a  toad, 
And  mutter  swift,   as  vypers  swear; 
And  spectres  that  the  cauldrons  wrought, 


76  BETELGUESE 

Glare  at  the  storm-swept  sins  that  tell 
Of  monsters  that  the  night-winds  rode 
When  bloody  plumes  stole  to  a  lair 
Beyond  the  confines  of  a  ghaut. 
And  spacious  halls  where  vagrants  lie — 
Vandals  to  the  Dawn,  Night  and  Dusk  ! 
And  vulpine  labyrinths  of  hell 
Where  pirates  of  a  star  are  thron'd 
As  dews  cloak  bones  that  pierce  the  sky, 
Wowed  witches  with  a  gorce's  lust 
When  vales  list  to  a  clanging  bell 
That  some  encharnel'd  hybrid  domed, 
Sweats  cesspools  with  the  pall  of  fear, 
Shrill  sounds  permeate  the  barren  air, 
Each  shatter'd  light  before  a  well, 
Ends  its  flame  in  short,  spastic  gasps. 
And  stars  that  burn  but  once  a  year, 
(Veined  Aureoles  to  altars  where, 
When  sins  are  told  unto  each  knell 
As  chanting  runes  are  hushed  with  clasps 
Of  winds  provoked  by  black-set  night, 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  77 

Peer  at  the  caravans  in  prayer; 
A  dirge  is  sung  by  magicians; 
Each  Idol  squints  eyes  at  the  show, 
Whilst  goblins  curse  the  eerie  sight. 
And  Betelguese,  an  evil  lair 
With  infernal,  warring  legions, 
Careens  as  stars  shed  tears  of  woe. 

Arcadia,  its  pleasing  name, 

An  Eden  where  the  damn'd  drink  wine, 

Where  rich  fetes  greet  each  varlet's  eye, 

Each  gyving  hound  whom  Fates  have  doomed: 

Each  scyphus  veils   a  burning  flame; 

A  blood-stone  from  each  dome  doth  shine 

On  poisons  that  in  goblets  lie, 

Bred  by  sorcerers,  cursed  and  tombed. 

Then  Terrors,  Horrors,  reign  supreme! 

Each  vial  squat  before  the  spread, 

Leer  at  toads  in  goblets  crossed, 

Froth  skinks  within  each  feaster's  glass, 

Wine  changed  to  blood,  then  acrid  green. 


78  BETELGUESE 

A  drunken  villain  who  was  bled 
As  drink  his  convulsed  entrails  tossed, 
Writhes  with  the  cramps  upon  the  grass 
And  glares  at  the  face  of  his  god, 
Whose  wrinkled  skin,  in  ghastly  wrath, 
Provoked  at  this  son  in  revolt, 
Rants  his  spleen  to  the  slabs  of  Doom, 
From  whence  gyte  monsters  with  a  rod, 
That  oft  gave  imps  a  bloody  bath, 
Hythe,  and  before  their  master  halt; 
And,  then  came  unhung,  battling  gloom  ! 
The  dome  cracked  like  a  clashing  star, 
All  lights  were  muffled  in  a  shroud, 
Wild  winds  that  cought  us  in  their  fold, 
Dashed  wrecks  unto  a  reeking  zone. 
In  Thralldom's  grasp  we  waged  giant  war, 
The  storms  rasped  at  each  cursing  crowd, 
From  regions  far  there  sprung  a  cold 
That  froze  each  hoodlum  stuck  in  loam. 
There,  garbed  in  the  wastes  of  a  moat, 
Gangrel  witches  scan  the  slime  to  curse 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  79 

Beneath  a  dome  and  shatter'd  light, 
A  sign  that  all  are  lost  and  doomed. 
Toward  jagged  heights  black  oaths  float, 
To  skies  of  jasper  light,  adverse 
To  Doom's  rich  fold,  prayers  reach  thro'  night 
That  some  malignant  monster  tombed 
In  phantom-blankets  stark  and  bold. 
All  mountain-chasms  growl  and  roar; 
Each  ocean  froths  black  waves  of  lust; 
King  Thunder  rasps  the  trembling  night; 
Giant  lightnings  split  their  fevered  hold; 
Encharneled  guilt  hastes  to  this  shore 
As  hydras  squirm  along  the  dust, 
Affrighted  at  this  Cauldron's  sight. 

For  we  are  unsubstantial  wrecks 

Beyond  the  pale  of  scale  and  fin; 

Adventurers  tossed  by  king  Time 

In  region  'neath  supernal  skies. 

To  dungeoned  knells  where  venom  specks 

The  robes  of  priestesses  with  sin, 


80  BETELGUESE 

And  prowling  apes  get  drunk  with 
We  turn  each  thought  to  coral  eyes 
That  seas  have  blurred  with  coffined  night. 
And  whisper  deeds  wrought  in  silence. 
A  quiver  that  the  tomb-sweat  bore 
When  walls  were  split  with  Typhonvs  ire; 
And  monstrous  shapes  that  carved  the  light 
As  dragon-worms  brought  pestilence 
To  souls  who  grovel  on  this  shore, 
Proclaim  each  gyving  djinnee  sire. 
And  dryades  whom  the  mists  have  struck 
With  ague — A  Sceptre  of  Despair  ! 
(Sklayres  to  the  night,  and  suns  unstunned) 
Dank  dulse,  where  templed  vaults  of  man, 
Coarse-grained,  who  gambled  with  king  Luck, 
'Mid  pulse  of  life  below  the  air, 
Shake  at  the  throb  of  this  unsummed 
Sphere,  where  haunted  thoughts  and  dreams 

scan 

Athward  at  a  untower'd  home, 
Where  vitals  that  the  glow-worm  lit — 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  81 

Friends  to  the  Doom !  as  sorrowed  soui, 
Repress'd  with  rage,  knelt  down  and  prayed, 
Rise  from  the  hollowed  void  a  moan 
As  sins  upon  papyrus,  writ 
In  vyper's  blood — Jems  in  this  shoal ! 
Confess'd  by  men  whom  friends  have  flayed, 
Teem  in  the  wind-swept,  shatter'd  strands — 
Blind   batter'd  keels  that  know  no  rest 
'Mid  surge  of  moans  that  tombs  have  spilt. 
Upon  the  air  that  Doom  hath  wrung, 
Beyond  the  fields  where  numberless  hands 
Point  to  the  headland  of  the  West, 
Lights  and  vague  shadows  spell  no  guilt 
Unto  the  wraiths  whom  Torpor  stung. 
And  all  night-thoughts  in  this  strange  sphere/ 
Tred  in  the  skirts  of  waters  cold, 
Of  hell-winds  that  the  beaches  swirl 
Dome-high  within  this  shrunken  realm; 
And  crested  billows  toss  giant  Fear 
Unto  each  culprit's  hidden  fold: 
The  studded  roof  where  flares  a  pearl, 


82  BETELGUESE 

The  charnel  vapours  o'erwhelm. 

In  caverns  where  gyte  jinnee  lee — 
Noctivagous  lepers  in  the  gloom— 
Unhollowed  regions  wrapped  in  light 
Where  groans  are  drowned  by  revels  coarse 
(Seen  by  a  gump  throughout  the  year 
Above  the  strife  where  horrors  soom) 
Lurk  crafty  gnomes  who  with  the  night 
Rant  oaths  in  voices  cracked  and  hoarse: 
Blood-thirsty  jinn  in  essling  caves, 
Where  rubic  dyes  tinge  Torture's  dome, 
And  vypers'  whispers  pierce  the  night 
As  ghouls — whose  baneful  eyes  conspire 
With  the  surge  of  hell's  roaring  waves — 
Rear  mounts  of  bone — Dame  Sorrow's  home  ! 
As  charnel  scarn  parades  in  light — 
Unfathomed  crafts  rayed  in  wowed  attire. 
And  dusky  mists  peer  at  the  show, 
Obtest  the  gloom  to  further  deeds 
Of  haste,  to  Horror's  added  might; 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  83 

Tho'  twilight-witches  spill  their  gloom, 
(Betelguese's  priestesses  of  woe) 
Abhorrent  gawks  lure  in  the  reeds 
Where  shatter'd  lights  wing  sudden  flight, 
'Mid  spun-waves  kiss'd  by  poppy  bloom. 

Dank  dulse,  and  rushing  waters  cold; 
Eternal  signs  of  shadowed  night 
Beyond  the  zephyr-haunted  space 
Of  adequate  lees  'neath  the  sky: 
Unfathomed  haunts  of  stark  souls  bold 
That  squat  on  waves  of  darkest  dight, 
Malignly  mute  as  foam-waves  race 
To  pyres  where  men  in  torture  lie. 
When  thrones  are  levelled  to  the  dust, 
And  glories  fade  in  cauldrons  tossed, 
'Mid  waters  vaster  than  the  night 
In  scarlet  tombs  that  rasp  grim  Death, 
Supernal  selves,  loosed  from  king  Lust 
As  Dissolution  bulwarks  crossed, 
Conviction  of  an  undreamt  might 


84  BETELGUESE 

Assail  each  mongrel  afrite's  breath. 
Hushed  gasps  permeate  the  solemn  air 
As  coral  Twilight  flaunts  its  sheen, 
And  vapours  wreath  phantastic  forms 
Till  vaulted  domes  glow  like  the  noon. 
Vague  dreams  plague  souls  beyond  repair, 
Phantoms,  black  demons  call  their  queen, 
Skinks  and  owls  whom  no  conscience  storms 
Make  faces  at  the  leprous  moon. 
And  bleak  dungeons  dank  with  odours 
Strong,  within  each  encrusted  gyre, 
'Mid  treasure-vaults  digged  by  gray  Age, 
Affronting  witches  incense  burn; 
And  howling  ghouls  gape  thro'  vapours, 
Two  siffling  vampyres  dance  on  fire, 
Each  mottled  sage  a  conquered  page 
To  him  whose  hate  no  Doom  can  turn, 
No  bat-faced  gnome  can  stem  the  blaze: 
Hence  harlots,  ghastly  with  giant  sin, 
Chant  runes  to  him  in  strobic  gloom 
As  figgum's  plied  before  his  throne. 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  85 

Malignly  mute,  he  peers  thro'  haze; 
Infernal  paeons  shake  each  Inn, 
Blue  lights  'twixt  opals  burn  and  bloom 
In  deep-hued  haunts  of  Typhon's  home. 

In  vain  we  seek  an  isle  of  peace 

Beyond  the  pale  of  siffling  Doom ! 

'Mid  stillness  vaster  than  the  tomb, 

Made  equal  with  the  ghouls  who  lurk 

On  battlements  where  witches  ease 

Their  minds  as  rubic  censers  fume, 

A  Fiend  bubbles  in  ruddy  bloom 

As  turgid  dyes  the  nigh t-d wales  shirk. 

No  sunsets  crimson  this  stained  sea, 

No  Ev'ntides  her  plume  unfolds; 

An  opaque  light  that  Silence  wrought. 

Careens  thro'  space  in  quest  of  toll. 

Then  demons  storm  each  sea  and  lee, 

Abhorrent  sights  each  Cauldron  holds, 

Dim  shapes  flit  to  the  distant  ghaut 

Where  Doom  sits  poised — Each  monster's  goal  \ 


86  BETELGUESE 

Erelong  the  air  shakes  with  a  roar — 
Forebodings  of  souls  on  Death's  dome ! 
Bright  cyphers  spell  the  new-damned  name 
In  letters  'gainst  a  leprous  home: 
Oaths  peel  like  the  hammer  of  Thor — 
The  screaming  thing  is  flayed  to  bone  ! 
Its  sins — an  outraged  Body's  shame — 
Laid  bare  as  whipcords  dye  the  foam, 
Whereon  nepheloid  imps  and  night, 
Soom  on  with  tidings  of  a  moan, 
Of  dews,  and  whisper'd  groans  and  sighs. 
And,  as  vague  forms  writhe  in  despair, 
A  native  in  phantastic  dight 
Stills  Torture's  hold  in  weazened  tone, 
Black  incense  lifts  its  wand  and  flies 
To  haunts  where  mattoids  rave  and  swear. 

Where  figent  gawks  sken  at  a  gnome, 
Decked  in  byssin  and  beads  of  gold; 
And  glozing  jinn  on  a  scree's  height, 
That  leer  as  geysers  boil  and  flow, 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  87 

Feazing  imps  on  serai's  dome, 
Drink  from  olpes  icy  philters  cold, 
Whilst  scarn  assails  the  morning  light — 
And  gumps  haste  to  the  Dawn's  first  show. 
Then  pyres  don  mystic  sklayres  agleam, 
A  faffiing  fool  leads  gawks  thro'  hall 
Where  fays,  in  stones  of  ancient  art, 
Dance  as  Scorpions  shake  with  glee: 
Infernal  pomps  spread  tawny   sheen, 
Strange  figgunv,  amid  unholy  pall, 
Pierce  Sorrows  with  its  poisoned  dart 
Whence  horrors  shake  their  limbs  and  flee. 
And  scenes,  profound  in  Aspect's  hue, 
Play  havoc  with  eyes  of  each  soul: 
Crimson  dales   (vague  tho'  they  be) 
And  swards  rise  from  the  lurid  moat; 
Knees  bend  in  Adoration's  pew, 
Blithe  songs  of  cheer,  far  and  near,  roll 
Thro'  the  halls  to  ebony  sea, 
Above  whose  breast  twin  whispers  float — 
Tremendous  signs  of  dooms  to  be  1 


88  BETELGUESE 

And,  ere  falt'ring  noon  wings  itself 
To  shadow  peaks  and  portals  bright 
That  scyle  veiled  augueries  of  Hell, 
An  agate  light  arrays  this  sea, 
Each  glabrous  fay  sports  with  an  elf, 
A  one-eyed  owl  blinks  at  the  light, 
A  green-horned  toad  croaks  from  a  well. 
Then  pageantries  fade  in  the  gloom: 
'Mid  Cyclopean  storms  unstunned 
Dank  treasure-houses  spill  their  quest 
And  march  with  thunder  from  far  West; 
Whilst  lightning   flashes  skirr  the  noon, 
Giant  moans  ascend  from  shoals   unsunned, 
The  turf,  Tartarus'  coals  of  rest — 
Helots  to  the  haunts  of  Sin's  crest- 
Whereon  jimp  jinn  ride  to  hell's  mouth, 
The  silence  stir  with  oaths  of  might; 
Vile  dragons  roar  at  a  zimb's  sting; 
A  swarthy  gump   leers  at  the  damn'd: 
All  soom  to  mountains  of  the   South 
Where  sultry  winds  war  with  the  light, 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  89 

And  zanies'  voices  rise  to  sing, 

Hosannah  to  the  idol's  stand, 

Where  azure-censers'  fumes  enhance 

The  pomps,  adverse  to  Sorrow's  home. 

Figent  hydras  squat  on  each  throne, 

Mute  souls  peer  at  the  altar's  flame 

As  phantom  images  do  dance 

In  honour  of  this  Hybrid's  zone, 

Bred  in  this  gorce  by  some  strange  gnome, 

Sib  to  him  who  plays   Satan's  game. 

A  Cesspool  vext  with  leprous  stench 
And  oils — A  sign  that  spells  a  curse ! 
Visioned  with  Temples'  diamonds  bright 
In  domes  as  guide  to  those  whose  cry 
Of  fear,  sprung  from  a  wench's  bench, 
Lure  all  to  this  strange  shore,  adverse 
To  moonlit  skies.    By  the  ghaut's  light, 
(Ten-thousand  furlongs  wide  and  high) 
The  gaud,  spun  from  sorcerers'  art, 
Reveals  its  part  unto  each  soul — 


90  BETELGUESE 

Imperishable  signs  of  groans 

That  time  nor  cyclones  can  eschew. 

No  lulling  lanes  point  to  a  mart, 

No  tidings  good  their  billows  roll; 

In  fretful  haunts  where  Sorrow  moans, 

Swarm  souls  in  Penance's  rasping  pew: 

Disastrous  sights  of  Torture's  dome ! 

Red-embered  coals  that  burn   their  feet  5 

And  reeking  pools,  vile  with  odours, 

Make  monstrous  this  blood-crimson  vale, 

Where  demon-lovers  chew  a  bone 

As  men  and  women  choak  in  heat, 

And  blood-veined  sights  writhe  in  vapours — 

Eternal  shadows  in  each  gale  ! 

To  groves  where  stiliness  sat  supreme, 

Flee  seers  in  quest  of  lagging  rest: 

To  regions  where  giant  echos  roar, 

Haste  begotten  sons  in  this  lair: 

There  man-born  wrecks  lie  down  and  dream 

Of  sea-winds  that  foam-billows  bless'd, 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  91 

Of  auric  realms  where  censers  pour 
Violaceous  fumes  thro'  the  air. 
And  in  the  deep-hued  depths  of  gore, 
(Blind  bowels  in  Betelguese's  hold) 
Gyte  vandals  that  a  Dragon  bore 
Sleep  with  one  eye  as  Midnight  rules 
These  sons  of  Circe  whom  pyres  adore; 
Their  thoughts  vie  with  the  luring  fold, 
Each  sleepless  orb  glares  like  a  boar — 
Infernal  hounds  of  shambling  ghouls  ! 
Porphyry  mounts  where  crystals  glare — 
Twin  carcants  strung  on  idols'  thighs 
Whereon  stones,   blaze  like  fire  bright, 
And  moonstones  add  their  silver  sheen, 
A  Circean  draught,  boiled  in  the  air, 
Is  poured   on  cippus  where  Set  lies; 
Where  vanquished  Soldans  sleep  each  night, 
A  greenish  fungus-torch  doth  gleam. 
Giant   battles  have  been  fought  in  hell, 
Principalities  rot  in  dust, 
The  tombs  of  kings  speak  of  the  past 


92  BETELGUESE 

When  Incubi  reigned  with  a  rod. 
Unnumbered  bones  adorn  each  dell — 
Where  Rulers  lie  there  stands  a  bust; 
Blood-stained  the  hands  of  him  whose  task 
Is  blasting  varlets  like  a  god. 
And  when  some  spirit  stalks  thro'  space 
In  quest  of  vaults — Temporal  lees  ! 
Treads  in  the  grandeur  of  dank  hell, 
A  batter'd  shape  that  shakes  its  frame, 
Spacious  regions  Courage  chase, 
Winds  drive  it  to  Misery's  seas, 
Laughs  ascend  from  sequestered  well, 
Thro'  shadows  vague  it  hears  its  shame. 
And  tomb-thrown  groans  and  sighs  we  hear — 
Tho'  midnight's  near  and  afrite's  sleep: 
An  Owl,  perturbed  at  some  strange  sound, 
Scares  bats  in  space  and  wings  for  domes. 
All  signs  of  woe  hath  flown  with  fear, 
No  maidens  heave  their  breasts  and  weep, 
All  wrecks  of  Flesh  lie  on  the  ground, 
Removed  from  shoals  where  Terror  moans. 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  93 

On  skulls  that  some  in  Death  hath  left, 
Croak  toads  to  lizards  in  a  well; 
In  cajons  that  the  Ancient's  digged, 
Swim  snakes  that  hiss  at  burning  oils: 
And  bats  and  owls  that  offal  cleft, 
Proclaim  their  burdens  to  a  dell, 
Whilst  crafts  that  some  strange  witch  hath 

rigged, 
Bring  slaves  unto  this  Cesspool's  coils. 

When  carcants  gleam  like  scarlet  foam, 
And  hiss  of  pyres  froth  at  each  light 
In  dongas  vext  as  jazels  flare 
From  splinter'd  tombs  of  Kings  in  dust, 
A  straggling  mist  that  cleft  Hell's  dome, 
Peers  at  the  gloom  and  strobic  sight 
Of  charnel  shard  as  vypers  blare 
Wrathfully  at  each  Monarch's  bust. 
And  doleful  dirges  rake  the  gloom, 
A  whisper'd  sin  sobs  at  the  wrecks; 
Graven  imps  clasp  papyrus  old 


94  BETELGUESE 

And  rant  each  Body's  deeds  of  shame. 
Come  from  a  dank  and  sunken   womb 
All  stranded  ghouls  on  keels  and  decks 
Where  Cyclops  fought  as  Vellum  told 
In  cyphers  bright,  sprung  from  each  flame, 
Make  hideous  eyes  at  the  night. 
And  terrors  that  Tartarus  bred 
Assail  each  kingdom  treblefold: 
A  gangrel  clan  that  someone  flayed, 
Skirr  thro'   the  dungeoned  halls  in  flight 
And  seek  the  caverns  of  the  dead. 
Where  tapers  gleam  like  virgin  gold 
The  tombs  of  dead  queens  are  arrayed: 
There,   too,  a  witch  unfurls  her  cowl 
And  scans  the  shambling  hordes  to  curse, 
And   with  the  light  that  cyclones  split, 
She  juggles  secrets  of  her  lust, 
And  hurls  her  voice  at  Ne"phele's  owl, 
Past  portals  dark,  where  harlots  nurse 
Their  skinless  limbs  that  Torture  bit, 
And  stamps  her  feet  into  the  dust 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  95 

As,  into  olpes  she  pours  a  tear: 
And,   musing  at  the  clouds  of  gloom, 
She  wrinkles  face  and   lifts  her  hands 
To  mutter  words  unto  the  night, 
Whereon  a  ghoul-king  hath  writ  Fear, 
And  changes  gloom  to  purple  bloom, 
The  shoals  to  opal-sanded  strands 
That  reach,   past  wrecks  to  crystal   light, 
Where  mossy  vales  with  poppies  bloom, 
And  hastes  her  flight  from  Terror's  urn, 
To  onyx  seas  where   agates  glow, 
And   feats  her  eyes  on  woes  of  hell, 
Upon   the  foam-dreams  of  king   Doom, 
Where  monsters  in  red   cauldrons  burn, 
'Mid  shrieks  that  from  their  vitals  flow 
With  airs  that  rasp  each  bone-strewn  dell. 
And  sea-linkt  skies  of  charnel  black — 
A  savage  dome !   streaked  scarlet  red, 
Where  maids  for  demon  lovers  mourn  ; 
And  caskets  spew  a  dusky  foam 
That  quench  the  thirst  of  yon  lone  wrack 


96  BETELGUESE 

That  holds  the  sultry,  naked  dead, 
Who  caught  the  eyes  of  waves  forlorn, 
Now  bathed  in  blood  in  Hecate's  home. 

There  garnet  wrought  and  purple  lights 
Shine  thro*  poisoned  vials  of  age 
On  churning  pomps  of  casements  old, 
Where,  when  lofty  aisles  and  halls 
Ring  rich  with  tenor  runes  in  nights 
Made  solemn  by  a  hoary  sage 
With  darkling  eyes  that  gleam  like  gold, 
A  prowling  vandal  storms  the  walls, 
Nursed  with  dank  venom  broths  and  oils. 
A  blood-shot  minx  hunts  for  a  man; 
In  stys  and  broken  pyxs  she  peers 
For  him  who  ruined  her  honour,  soul; 
A  harlot  doomed  in  clinging  coils 
That  now  her  longings  curse  and  damn, 
Squats  on  a  skull  and  pulls  her  ears: 
Or,  just  when  she  finds  her  life-goal, — 
A  cow'ring  cur  hid  from  the  sight 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  97 

Beneath  a  putrid  mount  of  bone, 

And  tombs  grow  dank  as  rising  sun 

Makes  red  each  dragon  in  the  West, 

She  splits  his  heart  and  rasps  with  might, 

A  curse  that  rides  the  surging  foam, 

A  message  that  this  dastard  son 

Dies  longing  for  a  fatal  quest — 

Surcease  of  soul  and  conscience  lost ! 

Then  rants  she  sins  unto  each  tomb 

That  sweat  the  lusts  of  those  in  dust, 

And  scarlet  foam  and  hiss  of  oils 

That  her  black  deed  to  domes  hath  tossed, 

Break  into  writhing  life  and  bloom 

As  iron  crowns  and  ceptres  rust 

Of  fall'n  monarchs  crossed  in  coils. 

Anear,  two  carcants  glare  like  gold  ; 

Afar,  a  ruby's  light  of  red 

Straggles  thro'  the  pellicle*d  mist, 

And  to  its  vinewed  dell  haste  I, 

To  catch  the  fleeting  whispers  told 

To  marble-lamps  and  head-stones,  said, 


08  BEThLGUESE 

By  demon-husbands  as  I  list, 
To  hold  each  mongrel  harlot's  sigh. 
There,   then,  in  tatter'd  rags  and  hair, 
Coarse-grained  of  features  once  so  fine, 
She  spews  her  'evil  wrath  and  rage 
Into  the  wriggling  hands  and  face 
Of  him  who  lifts  his  voice  to  swear 
A  curse  that  stirs  the  air,  whose  time 
(Tho'  to  king  Satan  speeds  a  page) 
Hath  come  as  Vengeance  wins  the  race. 
When  crimson  skies  and  stellor  eyes 
Swathed  palace  domes  and  turrets  strong, 
Her  lips  kiss'd  mine,  and   mine  did  hers, 
Ere  evil  smote  her  virgin  soul. 
And  livid   lights   of  bleeding  dyes 
(Whenas  she   prods  him  with  her  prong) 
Make  terrible  her  words  so   terse 
That  brands  this  scoundrel   on  this   shoal. 
And  mutt'ring  quick  a  ghastly  oath 
As  turgid  mists  veil  shadows  vague, 
She  plucks  his  lying  tongue  that  stole 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  99 

Her  husband's  love  and  honour  old, 
And  smites  him  stark  and  cold,   tho'  loath, 
It  peers  to  me  her  demon-ague 
That  binds  her  to  this  perjured  soul, 
She  drinks  his  gore  from  carvels  cold 
And  leers  with  fiendish  lips  at  him, 
Now  tossed  in  phosphorescent  holes. 
And  as  I  list  to  aspen  cries, 
Veiled  augueries  in  vapours  hie 
And  spell  these  tokens  to  each  Inn: 
Kingdoms,   empires,   nations,   souls, 
Shall  miss  the  haunts  of  Paradise, 

X 

And  in  Subjection,  crumbling,  lie. 
And  when  the  regions,  wrapped  in  light 
By  pillared  dreams  and  pomps  supreme 
As  curses  stir  the  charnel  air 
That  hide  dank  caverns  deep  and  bold, 
A  battling  monster  smites  the  night 
As  lepers  wink  their  orbs  and   dream 
Of  maidens  that  the  men  forswear, 
Of  templed  vaults  now  stiff  in  cold. 


100  BETELGUESE 

And  when  a  dim,  unholy  tomb, 

Wreathes  odours  damp  and  vapours  strong 

Heirs  of  the  Doomed  !  as  savage  domes 

Drip  palsied  sweat  and  carnal  howls 

Assail  the  stationed  halls  of  gloom, 

Where  imps  and  devils  march  along 

Beside  a  monarch's  crumbling  bones 

As  witches  don  their  filthy  cowls 

And  rant  their  sins  thro'  whistling  halls, 

Shake  women  fists  at  fleeing  souls 

And  wail  for  batard  children  dead; 

Whilst  quickly  from  the  burning  dust 

Ascends  an  oath  that  storms  the  walls 

And  rasps  the  distant  mounts  and  shoals 

Until  each  pyre  glows  scarlet  red, 

Each  idol  leers  with  wicked  lust. 

Forth  from  rubies  flare  scented   fumes 

As  beacons  glare  and  bubbles  hiss 

To  crimson  strands  and  altars'  glow 

Of  burning  oils  in  carvels  deep, 

Where;  when  Torture's  bloody  dome  looms 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  101 

Cold  as  shambling  shapes  of  men  kiss 
Trembling  women  before  the  show, 
Wraiths  point  to  where  their  daughters  weep. 

To  lie  in  vaults  and  chambers  cold 
'Mid  tombs  that  ghouls  in  hatred  wrought ! 
To  sleep  in  dank  Subjection's  shard 
'Mid  hanuts  of  purple  sins  and  shales* 
A  Thirst  gyre  !  as  bleak,  untold, 
As  ever  haunted  woman  sought 
For  incubi  on  scented  sward 
As  bleary  owls  and  vulpine  wails 
Rake  stationed  nights  and  seas  forlorn, 
Until,  when  star-linkt  domes  are  red, 
And  Oceans'  shells  and  sands  grow  white, 
Dusky  isles  and  lights — Twins  of  the  Gloom ! 
Betray  each  soul  cursed  and  forsworn  ; 
Or  awed,  at  Twilights'  scarlet  bed, 
When  nightshades  blot  the  conjured  light 
As  javels  vomit  death  and  doom, 
Dank  vapours  veil  the  seaward  fligra 


102  BETELGUESE 

Of  Satellites  gray   'gainst  the  night, 
Till,  eyes  in  fear  peer  at  profounds 
Unfathomed  and,  in  vales  unsunned, 
See  Cyclops  battling  in  the  light, 
'Mid  scarlet  foam  and  gorey  sight 
Of  bloody  domes  and  hybrid  hounds 
Of  Titan's  forges,  cold,  unstunned. 
Oh,  vain  each  sinner's  prayer  of  hope  ! 
Alas,   alas,  all  thoughts  of  future  trust ! 
The  bloody  lanes  of  reigning  Doom 
Are  lasting  tombs  for  souls  accurst. 
When  in  a  pool  we  lie  and  mope 
As  vaulted  temples  rot  in  dust, 
Vague  shapes  and  forms  ascend  to  spell 
Infernal  chasms  of  black  gloom. 
When  crested  waves  of  billowed  sea 
Are  lashed  by  winds   from  foreign  shoal, 
And  foam-set  breasts  are  dashed  on  high 
As  silence  holds  the  voiceless  air, 
Unsavouay  dreams  haunt  each  lee — 
The  maw  of  Hell  receives  a  soul ! 


A  TRIP  THROUGH  HELL  103 

A  leering  fiend  blinks  at  the  sky. 

Beyond  the  realm  of  railing  Care, 
Caressed  by  suns  and  moons  most  fair, 
We  fain  would  hye,  all  wrecks,  and  lie 
In  dusky  forests  dells  and  vales; 
Beyond  the  Asian  skies  of  blue, 
Where  sports  an  elf,  mayhap  a  hare, 
We  fain  would  haste,  each  soul,  and  die, 
Unfurl  all  dreams  and  pinioned  sails, 
And  sleep  unmourned  in  haunts   we  knew, 
Now  wracks  and  domes  stare  at  each  soul, 
-Giant  goddards  leak  a  rubic  foam; 
Blind  forges  hold  Contagion's  breath; 
A  Morgan  longs  for  earthly  home. 
>Tis   so  with  hell's  eternal  shoal 
Where  skinks  eat  flesh  from  wenches'  bone; 
'Tis  thus  with  us  purloined  by   Death, 
Infernal  doom  that  spells  a  moan. 
Ten  thousand  years  was  Doom  crown'd  King; 
Sporadic  prayers  each  gnarl'd  one  lisped; 


104  BETELGUESE 

Despotic  sway  all  subjects  curs'd 
When  Hell  was  new  and  Earth  unborn: 
Now  souls  of  man  in  torture  sing, 
Each  Idol's  glyph  by  damn'd  one's  kiss'd. 
Who  then  shall  say  who  is  the  worst, 
A  vyper's  brood  or  man  forsworn? 


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